The Pre-Holiday Classic was full of great teams from the host lady panthers to the Mcclellan Crimson Lions. Also participating was the Beebe Badgers the Lonoke Jackrabbits, the JA Fair War Eagles, the Pine Bluff Zebras, the Mountain Home Bombers, and the Searcy Lions. The teams faced off in a winners and losers bracket to determine who the pre-holiday classic champions will be.

To begin the tournament Searcy had a come from behind victory against Lonoke to advance to the second round. Lonoke was leading the game until late in the fourth quarter when Kaleigh Thompson got into foul trouble allowing Searcy to get back into the game. Down by 6 with under two minutes left Alexis Broadway brought her team back as they win 38-36 moving on to the second round.

Then the Cabot girls had a dominating win 72-26 over Mcclellan and they will be moving on as well. The Panthers had a all around great game from Brooklyn Stracner starting out hot to Anna Wilson and Blair Nichols hitting some big threes. “It was a great team win and really fun to just dominate both sides of the ball like we did tonight” Senior Blair Nichols said.

Continuing the first round Beebe would take on Pine Bluff. Beebe would dominate led by Madlyn Atkins who put up 18 and playing great defense. Pine Bluff would keep it close in the first half but the steeler play by Atkins helped Beebe win 55-21.

The last first round game was the lady Bombers of Mountain Home going up against the lady War Eagles of JA Fair. JA Fair showed no match for the inside game of Mountain Home as the Bombers got most of their points in the paint. Mountain Home would dominate from start to finish winning by thirty-eight behind Addison Yates 20 and Anna Grace Foreman’s double-double  .

In the second round the Lady Panthers took on the Searcy Lions with a big game from senior Dejah Jimmerson and a electrifying fourth quarter by Jayna Davis. Searcy was unable to keep up with the pace of the panthers as the speed the lady panthers had proved to be too much.  Cabot was able to win 47-32 to advance to the championship.

In one of the closest matchups of the tournament Beebe played Mountain Home.Addison Yates who put up 17 could not be stopped as her and her partner in crime Anna Grace Forman proved to be a problem heading into the championship game as the lady bombers win 37-34 in a great defensive game.

In the losers bracket side Mcclellen would play against Lonoke in the battle of the bigs as Kaleigh Thompson faced Brittany Patterson, both bigs would play great as Thompson had 16 and 8 and Patterson had 8 and 12, but Lonoke would prevail 41-36.

The last day for the girls started with the fifth place game between JA Fair and Lonoke with the game being a blowout early Lonoke was destined to win and take fifth place in this year’s tournament.

The third place game was between Beebe and Searcy and yet again Madlyn Atkins led the Badgers to a big win as the lady badgers would pull away late against the lady lions winning 45-33 giving them third place.

Cabot arrived with one goal in mind “champions” and once the tip off happened it seemed they would achieve that goal. Cabot had a great game collectively with Jayna Davis, Dejah Jimmerson, Brooklyn Stracner, Anna Wilson and Izzy Arnold playing a big part. Cabot would win in blowout fashion, a thirty point win 52-23 crowned the lady Panthers champions. The teams had a long journey and they were battle tested as the tournament went on. The tournament was a great way for the ladies to start off strong. “I think that this tournament will make us better as a team and bring us close together” Guard Brooklyn Stracner said “We want to have a good finale season for us and Coach C”.

The panthers coming into this tournament with a 4-1 record are playing with the highest of high confidence and won’t back down from any fight. This is Coach Crowders finale season with the team and she will be missed, but there is some unfinished business. “I love these girls I see them as my own this is the best age group to coach and I love it” Coach Crowder said “We have unfinished business to take care of that we need to do win this tournament, play our hardest, and have fun that’s all we can do right now”. The panthers look to continue this win streak this week as they play Russellville and Paurigold in two games they look to win.