By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – Southwest Covenant returns to the court Thursday with a tough challenge in front of them.
The Hammon Invitational Tournament.
The 5-2 Lady Patriots open the 2018 portion of the schedule with a tournament that features one unbeaten team, two 8-2 teams and a 7-6 team.
The field of teams includes Sentinel, Union City, Beaver, Navajo, Lomega and Binger-Oney, along with host Hammon.
The Lady Patriots will play in the final girls game of the first day against class 2A No. 5 ranked Navajo, 8-2, at 7 p.m.
Lomega, 11-0, and Sentinel, 3-10, open the tournament at 10 a.m., Binger-Oney, 7-6, plays Beaver, 5-3, at 1 p.m. and Hammon, 8-2, and Union City, 5-6, meet at 4 p.m.
A win would send the Lady Patriots to the 7 p.m. semifinals against the winner of Hammon and Union City. The losers play at 10 a.m. Friday.
The other semifinal game will be played at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Saturday’s championship round starts at 10 a.m. with the seventh place game. The consolation finals will be played at 1 p.m. The third place game is set for 4 p.m. and the championship game at 7 p.m.
The Lady Patriots enter the game having won two of their last three games and a third place finish in the Crusader Classic at Christian Heritage Academy in Del City.
Navajo enters the game having won four of their last five games. The Lady Indians did lose their last game before the break to Hammon, 46-38.
Navajo knocked off class 2A No. 18 Hobart and Snyder 55-21. The Lady Indians finished fifth in the Nike Tournament of Champions. NHS beat class 4A No. 3 ranked Vinita 41-39 in the fifth place game.
Navajo had beaten class 5A No. 1 ranked Tulsa East Central 45-32 after losing to Arkansas class 7A Fort Smith Northside 6, 63-39 in the opening round.
Hammon comes into the tournament with an 8-2 record and Union City 5-6. Hammon won their first five games and have been 3-2 in their last five. The Lady Bearcats play today in the Bertha Frank Teague Mid-America Classic in Ada today.
If the Lady Patriots play Union City in the tournament, it will mean the teams will meet three times in a week. The teams play Jan. 12 and again Jan. 15.
