A tough midseason challenge.
The Capital City Lady Cavaliers are set to host the Jefferson Bank Holiday Hoops Classic, which tips off at 2:30 p.m. today. The Lady Cavaliers (2-7) will play the final game of the day, taking on the St. Joseph Benton Lady Cardinals at 7 p.m.
“They’re gonna bring some pressure defense in the back court,” Capital City coach Ashley Agee said. “Nothing that we haven’t seen. Offensively, they run some flex, they’re very good at running set plays, they’re very fundamental and disciplined. We saw that last year because we had them last year.”
Benton (7-0), the No. 5-ranked team in Class 4, beat the Lady Cavaliers 50-28 in Capital City’s first time hosting the Classic. With the Lady Cavaliers back for a second attempt at the tournament, Agee said the experience from last season will help the returning players understand what needs to be done in the gruelling three-day event.
“They see it as a big challenge, and I know they’re up for challenges,” Agee said. “We’ve played hard in every game that we’ve played this year. We talk about things that we can do against certain teams. … We’re realistic in knowing if we can get wins or not, but what we can go in and do and what we can get better at and what we can make different teams do. Making sure Benton isn’t getting scores out of the flex, making them do something else. The girls understand that and they know what the challenge is.”
After the game with Benton, the Lady Cavaliers will play either Jefferson City or Oxford, Miss.
Agee has done some scouting of Oxford and has played Jefferson City enough times to have an idea of what to expect, but she plans to spend the first day of the tournament watching and learning the teams Capital City might match up with later.
Capital City has not gotten off to the start it wanted this season, but Agee has been impressed with the team’s performance in games against teams which beat the Lady Cavaliers by wide margins in previous seasons.
“If you look at the record, you think that we haven’t come very far,” Agee said. “This time last year, we had a couple more wins, but we’re playing a lot of higher-caliber teams so far. Our team culture, our leadership, where we are as a team and those six losses, I can’t say that we’ve had a terrible loss yet. … We’re playing high-caliber teams and we’re competing with them.”
With four teams in the Classic ranked in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association polls -- Fatima sits at No. 3 in Class 4, while Helias is No. 2 in Class 5 and the Lady Jays at No. 7 in Class 5 -- Agee said seeing the tough competition will be good experience for her players. Fatima will open the tournament against the Hickman Kewpies at 2:30 p.m., then Helias will play Staley at 4 p.m. Jefferson City will take on Oxford at 5:30 p.m.
“You get to play against players and see where you and your teammates, where do you rank among some of the top players in the state, some of the top teams in the state,” Agee said. “It’s just a cool experience, so just go in and you can kind of evaluate yourself, your teammates and your team and see where you stand as a whole.”
The Lady Cavaliers enter the tournament a little short-handed after injuries to starting guards Natalie Allison and Addison Jones in Capital City’s game last week against Eldon. Both are working through their recoveries and Agee is hopeful Jones will still play in the tournament.
“The field is some of the best teams in the state right here,” Agee said. “Some local teams that are very, very good, ranked teams. Good teams from all across the state. The field is tough, it’s very competitive, we’re gonna have to play our best basketball to win a game in this tournament.”