The Blytheville Chickasaws and Gosnell Pirates will not play in the 72nd Northeast Arkansas Invitational as scheduled after Gosnell pulled out of the tournament.
The coaches meeting was held Wednesday at First National Bank Arena, and the bracket was released for the two-week tournament.
According to the Division III Boys bracket, the third-seed Blytheville Chickasaws were scheduled to face the sixth-seed Gosnell Pirates Saturday, Dec. 22 at 9 p.m.
However, Gosnell Superintendent Bonard Mace said the Pirates will not be playing in the tournament because they were put in a higher classification.
“The bottom line here is that the NEA, we are supposed to be playing the classification below what we are playing,” Mace said. “We played in that upper classification last year and they put us in it again this year. We just have to be able to compete at our own level. So, we just told them that we are not going to be in it. The answer to your question is yes we did tell them that we are just not going to be in it, but it is because they have moved us up to the highest classification and that’s just not where we are. Everybody that we play is in that next classification down. So, that’s the extent of it. We just had conversation. Like I said we aren’t mad at the world and they aren’t mad at the world, but like I said the bottom line is we’ve got to be able to compete and that’s what we are trying to do.”
According to Chickasaw head coach McKenzie Pierce, Blytheville will now have a bye and play the Westside Warriors on Thursday, Dec. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the NEA second round.
“I think it’s pretty bad business on Gosnell’s part to be in a tournament, come to the seeding meeting in December and then all of a sudden not play,” Pierce explained. “That’s not fair to the tournament and the people who run it and it’s not fair to the players and fans in Mississippi County who want to see that crosstown game. You play in tournaments to get better for the postseason; it’s a two game guarantee this year which ensures that you’re going to get games to make you better. We played in the Bulldog Classic in Fayetteville and we are up here playing 7A teams to get ready for post-season play, that’s what it’s about. But as for us, we look forward to getting a rematch with Westside and trying to get back to the finals of the NEA tournament.”
Heading into the NEA, Pierce explained how he feels about his team.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get where we need to be. We’ve shown flashes of being an elite team but we’ve also been inconsistent at times. I think right now I’d agree that we should be the 3 seed just based on that. Our early season schedule hasn’t had a lot of flow to it as far as playing twice a week. We had a week off before heading into conference play and felt like we kind of lost our flow,” said Pierce. “I’ve coached in the NEA tournament four times, been the one seed twice and didn’t win it either year. The two years I’ve won it , I won it as a six seed at EPC and as a two seed at Blytheville so bottom line is, it doesn’t really matter what you’re seeded, you’ve just have to go and play well and I feel like we will be a much different and improved team by then.”
In the Division II Boys Bracket, the fourth-seed Rivercrest Colts are scheduled to face the Marked Tree Indians on Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. The third-seed Manila Lions are scheduled to play the sixth-seed Bay YellowJackets Dec. 22 at 4:30 p.m.
In the Division I Boys Bracket, the 11th-seed Armorel Tigers are scheduled to face the sixth-seed Salem Greyhounds on Dec. 15 at 9 p.m.
“It is a ways away and we’ve got another tournament next week. We get three games in it and hopefully, our biggest thing is we need to get some able bodies out there. When we get everybody off of the injured reserved list we’ll be a little bit better off,” said Tigers head coach Gary Burnside. “CJ came back tonight and hasn’t had a chance to practice any but he’ll be a big help in there. Salem, I don’t know a great deal about them. I know that I talked to one or two coaches that have played them. I think they are 2-1 right now, of course they are a football school. So, they haven’t gotten as many games in but again if we can get everybody healthy and play the right way I like our odds that we could be in a lot better shape by then.”
In the Division I Girls Bracket, the eighth-seed Armorel Lady Tigers are scheduled to face the number one-seed BIC Lady Mustangs.
Lady Tigers head coach Shannon Miller explained, “Well, we play BIC. We already played them once this year and they beat us at our place. So we know a little bit about them and they know a little bit about us. We are the eighth seed and they are the one seed and so of course that would put them as the advantage just because they are a pretty good team. They got the one seed. I believe we can compete with them and hopefully enough things go our way to where we can keep on playing in the winners bracket. We have to do a better job of guarding their shooters and we are going to have to do a better job of just making buckets.”
The Lady Tigers will have back senior Ayreille Appleton. Appleton made her return during the second quarter of the Lady Tigers matchup against the Hillcrest Lady Screaming Eagles Thursday night.
“[Appleton] got to play a little bit tonight; we didn’t play her a whole lot, because we are trying to limit her play a little bit. We didn’t want to push her too hard, didn’t want to put her in a position to where she felt like she had to be really careful with it or anything like that,” Miller explained.
“She’s going to have another opportunity to play a game before we play in the NEA as we have Piggott next week on Tuesday. So she’s going to bring of course the ability to get in there and create her own shot down low and then also rebounding is a big plus. Just an opportunity for someone to get in there and take up some space and be able to get those rebounds that maybe other teams have been getting here more recently. Just having her back on the floor just brings a lot more energy to our team and we need that right now.”
The three-seed Manila Lady Lions are scheduled to play the sixth-seed EPC Lady Warriors Dec. 15 at 10:30 a.m.
In the Division III Girls Bracket, the sixth-seed Rivercrest Lady Colts are scheduled to play the third-seed Brookland Lady Bearcats on Dec. 21 at 6 p.m.