The Houston and Willow Springs girls’ basketball teams split their first two meetings of the season. Now comes the one that matters most.
The Lady Tigers host the Lady Bears tonight in an important South Central Association game. Houston, which is 2-0 in the SCA, needs a win to continue its march toward the team’s preseason goal of winning the conference crown.
“We need a big crowd. We’d love to fill the gym,” Lady Tigers coach Brent Kell said. “This could really propel us into the meat of our conference schedule. This is a big one.”
HHS (10-4) and Willow Springs have already played twice in tournament matchups this year. The Lady Tigers won the first meeting 63-60 in the semifinals of the Cabool Holiday Tournament. Willow Springs was victorious in the second game – a 44-41 come-from-behind win in the third-place game of the Mountain Grove Holiday Tournament.
Since that loss, Houston has won back-to-back games to open conference play in convincing fashion. The Lady Tigers beat Cabool 61-35 on Jan. 4 and Monday cruised past Ava 66-47.
“I’m not putting any pressure on the kids,” Kell said. “We want to use our speed. We feel like that’s an advantage.”
Tipoff will follow the conclusion of the junior varsity game, which begins at 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed online by the Herald at www.houstonherald.com/live