Basketball – Tournament week for Wildcat teams

By Shari Harris, Publisher

Three Wildcat teams were busy with tournaments last week. Both the Varsity and Junior Varsity Lady ‘Cats played in the Logan-Rogersville Varsity and Junior Varsity Tournaments, and the Varsity Wildcats played in the St. James Tournament. The formats of the tournaments were changed to round robin due to teams dropping out because of COVID quarantines.

The Lady ‘Cats started the Logan-Rogersville Tournament on a high note Tuesday, Jan. 19. The Junior Varsity defeated the Class 5 home team, 37-25. Varsity faced Sparta and posted a 52-44 win.

Licking was less fortunate when it returned to Rogersville on Friday, Jan. 22, for round two of pool play. The Junior Varsity lost 34-40 to Class 4 Hollister. Despite leading Class 5 Rolla 36-30 at the end of the third quarter, the varsity Lady ‘Cats also fell, 38-45.

Both teams returned for the third place games on Saturday, Jan. 23. The JV came up on the short end against Class 5 Marshfield, 29-36. Varsity faced a state-ranked (4th) Class 4 team, Hollister, and just missed an upset, losing 45-48. The Lady ‘Cats will be on the road this week and next week, returning to the Sherman Hill Field House on Monday, Feb. 8, to face Newburg.

Only six teams remained in the St. James Invitational Tournament, divided into two pools. On Jan. 20, Licking faced Class 5 Sullivan but fell short, 49-62. The following evening, Thursday, Jan. 21, the Wildcats lost with a lopsided score, 44-90, to Class 4 Blair Oaks, the other team in their pool. This moved the Wildcats into the Consolation game on Friday against Salem.

Licking took Consolation for the tournament with a convincing win over the Salem Tigers, 64-43. The Wildcats will face the Tigers again on Friday, Jan. 29, in the Homecoming game at Licking.

In the week’s tournaments, the teams faced larger schools and represented Licking well.