In the annals of state basketball tournaments across the country through the decades, some of the most memorable games come from before the advent of the ‘class system’, when talented small school teams would challenge big enrollment squads, looking to “win one for the little guy”.
On Saturday afternoon in Trenton, it will not be a game with state tournament aspirations, but it will be a girls match-up of a talented Class 1 power taking on one of the tradition-rich squads out of the Midland Empire Conference and St. Joseph, as the Southwest Livingston Lady Wildcats battle the Lafayette Fighting Irish at 3:30 from the Ketcham Community Center. In the first game of 2017 Holiday Hoops, the Southwest Livingston Wildcat boys will “play up”, but not at quite the same level of the Lady Wildcats, as Southwest takes a 4-1 record into a test against Class 2 Scotland County, making the long trip from Memphis, Missouri to Trenton for the 2 o’clock contest.
The Southwest Livingston girls game with Lafayette is exactly the type of matchup that Holiday Hoops brass had in mind when creating the event some 13 years ago. Holiday Hoops Director Steve Maxey says with 110 teams involved in this year’s event, scheduling is a continuing challenge:
Maxey expects more than 1,800 student-athletes on the North Central Missouri College campus during Holiday Hoops. That number includes pep bands, dance troupes, flag corps, and cheer squads. He believes the event has a positive economic impact on local businesses:
On Monday, Holiday Hoops continues with the Grundy County R-V Panthers making the short trek over from Galt to play in doubleheader action. The Raiders of Bucklin/Macon County will provide the opposition for the Panthers, with the girls game at 4 o’clock, and boys at 5:30. At 7 o’clock on Monday night, the “Trenton Heroes” organization will play members of the High School Holiday Hoops Committee in a 7 o’clock exhibition game.
