19th St. Joseph Classic scheduled for this week

Photo by Hunter Brooks

By Hunter Brooks and Abigail Hodgson

UCA Sportswriting

St. Joseph will host the 19th annual St. Joseph Classic starting today at the St. Joseph Family Activity Center.

The eight-team tournament (with divisions for boys and girls) will be a classic bracket format with each team guaranteed to play at least two games. 

Today's schedule includes Lonoke vs. Guy-Perkins girls at 4:30 p.m., Marshall vs. Mayflower boys at 5:45; Vilonia vs. Mayflower girls at 7 and Perryville boys against Guy-Perkins at 8:15.

Tuesday's schedule will include Perryville against Marshall girls at 4:30, followed by Lonoke-Vilonia boys at 5:45, St. Joseph-Hazen girls at 7 and St. Joe-Hazen boys at 8:15.

First-round winners will advance to Wednesday's second round. Losers will drop to the consolation bracket Thursday. The tournament will conclude Saturday with fifth-place, third-place and championship games.

The Lady Bulldogs are 6-1, having lost for the first time this season against Greenbrier.

 Coach Chris Kordsmeier is confident that his team will compete well against the other schools.

“We hope to make a good run in the classic,” he said. “We can gain some momentum and experience for the rest of the season.”

Hazen, the Bulldogs' opening opponent, has yet to play a game all season. 

St. Joseph head coach Brent Bruich said 

“As a coach, it’s hard to play a team in its first game of the season,” St. Joe boys coach Brent Bruich said. “We have nothing to go off of about them and it’s a complete unknown. But the good thing is we have a few games under our belt, and we’ve got some kinks out. We don’t know anything about them other than they’re quick and athletic.”

St. Joseph also will play a non-tournament game Friday at home against Rose Bud. Bruich said the potential of playing four games in five days would benefit the team.

“It will be good for us,” he said. “We will see different styles and teams. We want to win so we can have an extra day of preparation. We’re going to play a lot of games in a lot of days. We will really see how deep our bench is. It will prepare us for regionals and hopefully the state tournament where we will have to play quick turnaround games. We’ll see it all this week.”

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Greenbrier hands Lady Bulldogs first loss

Photo by Hunter Brooks

By Abigail Hodgson

UCA Sportswriting

The St. Joseph girl’s basketball team fell short for the first time this season with a loss to Class 5A Greenbrier Monday night, 42-29, at the St. Joseph Family Activity Center in Conway.

The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 6-1 for the season. Coach Chris Kordsmeier said he knew it would be a challenging game for his team as it faced a stronger opponent.

“Greenbrier is a competitive team,” Kordsmeier said. “We knew this would be a tougher game than one we have had before so far. Greenbrier is a bigger school that plays in a bigger class. It’s going to be good experience for the girls to face this type of team.”

Greenbrier jumped to a quick eight-point lead in the first quarter after a follow-up shot and two free throws by junior guard Heather Donham.

With a steal from senior point guard Rachel Briggler resulting in a quick lay-up and a 3-pointer on the left wing, the Lady Bulldogs closed within 10-3 in the beginning of the second quarter.

But the Lady Panthers were quick to respond with 3-pointers by senior point guard Brooklyn Freeling and Donham again. Greenbrier continued to lead with a left side lay-up by Donham, a set of free throws by Freeling, and Donham again with a 3-pointer. Briggler ended the second quarter for the Lady Bulldogs with a right baseline shot, but it wasn’t enough as St. Joseph headed into halftime down by 10.

“At halftime I told the girls to keep working hard,” Kordsmeier said. “This game is definitely going to improve our fitness level and will help prepare us for our 2A conference games.”

St. Joseph had a few opportunities to finish baskets, but the shooting was a little off.

“We started off a little shaky and had a good comeback in the second quarter,” Briggler said. “The third quarter was a little rough but overall we did OK and not our best.”

Greenbrier came out in the third quarter hot with a 3-pointer by junior forward Kenzie Batterton and continued with another 3-pointer by Donham. St. Joe’s only response was a free throw by junior Monica Dabanzo.

“We should have made some of those shots tonight, and it all comes with practice,” Dabanzo said. “We've just got to put the basketball in the net.”

With a 3-pointer in the center of the court by Donham and two free throws by Batterton, the Lady Panthers reached their biggest lead of the night, 40-21, in the fourth quarter. Dabanzo responded with a left-handed lay-up and a free throw after making a two-point basket, but it wasn’t enough to finish the game.

“We shot off tonight because normally we have a better percentage,” Briggler said. “Coach told us that we had a lot of good looks but it just wasn’t falling together tonight.”

The Lady Bulldogs will return to the court Tuesday night when they play host to Hazen in the St. Joseph Classic.