Earle boys, girls headed to Carlisle to continue postseason play

Earle boys, girls headed to Carlisle to continue postseason play

Class 2A State Tournament begins today

By Ralph Hardin

ralphhardin@gmail.com The Earle Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs have a date with destiny as both teams look to add another state title to their trophy case in the Earle High School gym.

The Earle boys are the number two seed for the Class 2A State Tournament, which begins this afternoon in Carlisle.

In their first-round matchup, Earle will take on the Mountainburg Dragons.

Earle (19-11, 11-2 in 2A Conference play) will be facing a Mountainburg (16-14 overall, 7-5 in 2A Conference play) squad that secured the number three seed in the 2A West with a win over Flippin in Regional Tournament action over the weekend.

Tip-off between Earle and Mountainburg is set for 5:30 p.m. this evening in Carlisle.

For the the Lady Bulldogs, it will be a matter of rebounding from something that hadn’t happened in more than a dozen straight games… losing. The Earle girls dispatched Sloan-Hendrix in a rout, 79-36 and squeaked past Lake City-Riverside 55-53 to make the championship game of the 2A North Regional finals, only to see their long undefeated run (not counting a forfeit loss on Jan. 31) end at the hands of the Lady Bearkatz of Melbourne.

The loss not only snapped the Lady Bulldogs 14game winning streak, but also gave the Lady Bearkatz the number-one seed in the North in the Class 2A State Tournament. Like the Bulldogs, the Lady Bulldogs were slotted in as the number two seed for the state tourney in Carlisle.

The Lady Bulldogs (22-4, 10-1 in the 2A North) will be matched up with the Lady Warriors of Cotter (14-17, 7-3 in the 2AWest) in round one. Cotter secured the number three seed in the state tournament with a win over Hector on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Warriors tip of at 4 p.m. this afternoon in Carlisle.

Should the Bulldogs prevail, they will face the winner off the first-round match-up between top seed from the 2A Central seed from the 2A South Parkers Chapel in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 1, at 8:30 p.m.

If the Lady Bulldogs win their opening-round showdown, that will set up a Earle and the winner of the first-round game between top seed from the 2A Central Quitman and number- four seed from the 2A South Cossatot River at 1 p.m. on Friday.

The Earle boys and girls basketball teams are in Carlisle this afternoon to kick off a run toward what they hope to be another set of state championships for the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs.

Photo by Mark Randall