Every year, Fordyce’s FBT Bank & Mortgage Basketball Classic offers an opportunity for area schools to get early-season games against solid competition. Boys and girls teams from Junction City and Smackover will take advantage of that opportunity on Monday with opening-round games.
In girls, the Lady Bucks will play Fordyce Monday at 8:45 p.m. The Lady Dragons will take on Dollarway at 3:45 p.m.
In boys, Junction City and Smackover will square off at 5 p.m.
The Lady Dragons are 0-1 on the season and look forward to a week of competition.
“We’re just going to try to get some experience for the season,” said Coach Henry Harrell. “It’ll be our second game of the young season. We’ve got some young players. It’s a young team, a bunch of sophomores. That’s what we hope to get out of it.”
The Lady Dragons’ roster features nine players, including six sophomores.
Junction City’s girls, annually, don’t get going until football season ends. The Dragons lost in the first round of the football playoffs for the first time this season.
“It has put us behind the eight ball when we start late. We’re starting earlier than we normally do. So, that’s going to help,” Harrell said. “It’s hard on us when we have to play four games a week to get caught up during the season when we start late. But this year we’ll be on schedule.”
The coach said his squad is eager to get on the court and compete.
“They’re excited to play. Hopefully we’ll be a whole lot better than we were last year.”
Smackover coach Makara Frazier had similar thoughts about her Lady Bucks, who have only played twice.
“I think this tournament is a good one to be in,” said Frazier. “The competition will be good for the most part. A great week to play and learn. A great way to get ready for conference play.”
Smackover’s boys have gotten off to a 2-0 start this season.
“It’s going to be interesting,” said Coach Caleb Spradlin. “We’re going to play a lot of games this week. We could play as many as five games if it all worked all just right, five games in six days.
“It’s good to do that early on in the season and let the kids see what that’s like. I’m excited about that but it’ll take a toll on us for sure. We’ll see how it shakes out. There’s a lot of good teams in there so we’ll see how it goes.”