Parkers Chapel opened its girls’ basketball season on Thursday with a 50-49 win at Nevada. The Lady Trojans will take a gigantic leap up in competition today when they open play in the Heavenly Hoops Tournament, hosted by Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock.
Parkers Chapel takes on perennially tough Star City today at 5:30 p.m.
With four returning starters from last season, Coach Justin Welch hopes turning the heat up early will make a difference for the Lady Trojans.
“I’m excited to get the girls out of this area and go play some good, quality teams that will give us an experience that will prepare us for postseason basketball,” said Welch. “It’s a tournament that is jammed packed with talent. It has several teams that have continually went deep in state tournaments in the past and some have won championships in recent years.”
The tournament field includes 6A Cabot and Mount St. Mary along with Marion, Forrest City, Watson Chapel and Pulaski Academy. The 2A Lady Trojans will be the smallest school in the field by far, with every other competitor being Class 4A or larger.
“You hear coaches say all the time that iron sharpens iron, well that’s my objective,” Welch said. “We’re not looking to take the easy route. Win or lose, we will learn something about our team while learning from other teams all at the same time. I think the girls are excited about it. I know that I’ve been chomping at the bit since we committed to the tournament back in the spring. I think from a chemistry aspect, it’ll only make us closer as a team. Anytime you spend that much time together on a bus, you can only get closer and that’s what I need this group to do. They need to mesh and become one unit with a common goal.”
Class 4A Star City is 1-0 after a 49-38 win over Stuttgart.
“They are an athletic team that is well coached,” said Welch. “They’re quick and agile. They want to press you from the time you step off the bus. They like to play a lot of man-to-man. We haven’t seen a lot of that around here but we’re going to possibly come across it on down the road. It’s a great opponent that will make us better.”