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Local sports to watch for the week of Dec. 26-31

brennan stebbins, the joplin globe, mo.
·4 min read

Dec. 26—Want to watch some local teams in action this week? Your options are limited — unless you want to hop in the car and hit the road. Area teams are competing in a variety of holiday tournaments this week, including the Neosho Holiday Classic. Others are traveling as far as Kansas City and Rolla to get some games in.

Here are our picks for the final week of 2022.

—Carthage girls basketball vs. Glendale, 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Tigers (5-2) will be playing in the Pink and White Lady Basketball Classic at Drury University this week, and they face a 7-1 Glendale squad in the first round. Carthage's only losses are to Bentonville (50-32) and an 8-2 Nevada team (55-49). Glendale has already won more games than it did in each of the last four seasons. Tuesday's game will be played at the O'Reilly Family Event Center at Drury University. The Tigers face either Kickapoo (7-3, ranked fourth in Class 6) or Springfield Catholic (3-3) on Wednesday.

—McAuley Catholic boys basketball vs. Southwest (Washburn), 1 p.m. Wednesday. The Warriors (4-6) will make the hour-plus drive to Washburn for games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the 40th Annual Southwest Boys Holiday Tournament. Seeded fourth, McAuley takes on No. 5 Wheaton Tuesday before matching up with top seed Southwest on Wednesday. After dropping four of their first five games, the Warriors are playing better lately with three wins in their last five. The Trojans of Southwest are 5-3 with two losses to undefeated Marionville. They also have a nice win against East Newton. Washburn is southwest of Cassville, if you're wondering.

—Carthage Holiday Varsity Dual Tournament, 10 a.m. Wednesday. The Tigers welcome five other schools to town in what looks to be a bruising day of wrestling action. Carthage is 4-0 and has won by an average of 39 points. Bradyn Tate (15-0) and Davion King (13-0) just won individual championships at the Harrisonville Holiday Tournament, at 132 pounds and 165 pounds, respectively. Also participating are Nixa, Columbia Hickman, Liberty, Lee's Summit and Raymore-Peculiar. Three of those schools are currently ranked in Class 4 by Missouri Wrestling: Liberty is No. 1 with nine ranked individuals, Nixa is No. 4 with four ranked wrestlers and Hickman is No. 8 with three ranked wrestlers.

—Neosho Holiday Classic, noon, 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The 2022 tournament tips off on Wednesday and features three intriguing boys games involving local teams so you might as well make a day of it. Starting at noon, McDonald County faces Huntsville, Arkansas. The Mustangs are 5-4 and already have wins against Joplin, Hillcrest and Carl Junction, while Huntsville is 6-5. At 2 p.m., East Newton takes on Crooked Oak from Oklahoma City. The Patriots are 5-4 and played tough against a talented Sunrise Christian Academy team in the 4-States Challenge at Webb City. In Crooked Oak, they face a good team (they're 7-2) and a good mascot, too — the Ruf-Nex. They've scored at least 80 points in four games already. Neosho and Cassville play the nightcap at 5:30 in a battle between the Wildcats. Neosho is 6-1 and has won by an average of 19 points. The Wildcats are 5-0 against schools from the Big 8 Conference. Cassville, another Big 8 team, is 6-1.

—Webb City boys basketball vs. Kirksville, 4 p.m. Thursday. Both teams are 5-2 and they'll meet up this week at the former Kemper Arena in Kansas City as part of the Twelve Courts of Christmas showcase. It's now called HyVee Arena, though. The Cardinals have bounced back from a pair of lopsided losses in the 76th Carthage Invitational to win three straight, and they beat Monett by nine their last time out. Kirksville, a Class 4 school, has only lost to Columbia Rock Bridge and Fulton, teams that are a combined 12-3. Webb City is in the midst of a tough schedule; it travels to 5-4 McDonald County on Jan. 3, takes on 4-2 Jefferson City in the Kaminsky Classic on Jan. 5, and hosts 6-1 Neosho on Jan. 10.

—Neosho Holiday Classic championship games, 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Friday. There are two boys divisions and one girls division, and they'll all crown champions on Friday. The girls championship is set for 3:30 p.m. inside the high school gym. Fort Smith Northside is the No. 1 seed, and Neosho is seeded third. On the boys side, all the local teams are in the black division, with that title game set for 5 p.m. at the high school. Monett and McDonald County will challenge Sapulpa and Huntsville on the top of the bracket, with East Newton, Neosho and Cassville challenging Crooked Oak on the bottom. The gold division championship will follow at 6:30 p.m. Bentonville is the nearest school in that bracket.