Regional basketball tournaments begin today as Watson Chapel and other southeast Arkansas high schools look to qualify for their respective state tournaments.
The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats both qualified for the 4A South Region Tournament at Nashville. Watson Chapel will be the No. 2 seed in the boys and girls tournaments, which feature the top four teams from conferences 4A-7 and 4A-8.
Opening-round games are scheduled for today and Thursday. The winners will qualify for the 4A state tournament in Farmington. The semifinals and finals of the regional tournament will determine seeding at state.
Watson Chapel’s first games are scheduled to be the final two opening-round games Thursday night. The Lady Wildcats (23-7) will take on Magnolia (18-11), a team that defeated Watson Chapel 57-53 on Nov. 30. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. The Wildcats (15-12) will face Camden Fairview (20-7) at 8:30.
Watson Chapel boys coach Jevon Barnes said to qualify for state, the Wildcats must play their style of basketball.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Share the ball,” Barnes said. “Play hard. Play defense. Don’t foul and just be great teammates. If we do those things and remember our motto, ‘Only the strong survive,’ and go out there playing desperate, you know. I like our chances.”
Four other southeast Arkansas schools will be represented in Nashville. On the boys side, Stuttgart (10-18) will face 4A-7 champion Magnolia in the first round at 8:30 tonight. The winner of the game will face the winner of Watson Chapel’s game in the semifinals. Warren (11-4) will face Arkadelphia at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, with the winner advancing to face either Nashville or 4A-8 champion Mills University Studies.
For the girls, Hamburg (24-4) claimed the top seed from 4A-8 and will open against Arkadelphia at 4 p.m. today. The winner of that game will face either Star City (24-5), which finished third in 4A-8, or Camden Fairview. Their game is set for 4 p.m. Thursday. If Watson Chapel advances, the Lady Wildcats would face either Nashville or Mills.
Meanwhile, smaller southeast Arkansas schools will be involved in the 3A Region 4, 2A-South and 1A Region 4 tournaments.
The 3A Region 4 tournament will feature four boys and four girls teams from southeast Arkansas. On the boys side will be Conference 3A-8 co-champion Dumas (25-4) and McGehee (23-5), along with Lake Village Lakeside (11-13) and DeWitt (10-16). Dumas won the District 3A-8 tournament last week.
Girls teams will include McGehee (22-7), Dumas (25-5), Drew Central (19-8) and DeWitt (14-13)
The 2A-South tournament at Acorn will feature the Fordyce boys (17-9) and girls (16-11) as well as the Woodlawn boys (19-8) and girls (14-16).
Finally, the 1A Region 4 tournament at Emerson will include the Dermott boys (19-11) and girls (5-28).
The 3A state tournament will be held at Elkins, 2A at Mansfield and 1A at North Arkansas College in Harrison.