Tournaments will spice the area schedule as the 1997-98 high school basketball season gets going in full swing this week.
The annual Oran and Woodland tournaments will each feature eight boys teams from Southeast Missouri.
Jackson's boys and girls -- along with Fredericktown's boys and girls -- will compete in the Farmington Tournament while Cape Central's girls will take part in the Oakville Tournament in the St. Louis area.
Those four tournaments will all tip off today.
Also, Scott City will host its annual four-team round-robin tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
And in a highly-anticipated regular-season matchup this week that is always a highlight of early-season play around the immediate area, Cape Central will host Notre Dame Tuesday night.
Following is a brief look at this week's tournaments:
* At Oran, Kelly is seeded first, followed by Richland, Oran, Scott County Central, Bell City, Twin Rivers, Puxico and Leopold.
First-round games today feature Kelly vs. Leopold at 5:30 p.m., Oran vs. Twin Rivers at 7 and Richland vs. Puxico at 8:30. Scott Central will take on Bell City at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The semifinals are set for 7 p.m. and 8:30 Thursday, with the championship at 8:30 p.m. Friday night. Also Friday, the consolation final will be at 5:30 and the third-place game at 7.
Richland won the championship last season for the third time in four years, nipping Scott County Central 90-88 in a thrilling title contest.
* At Woodland, Delta garnered the No. 1 seed, followed by Bloomfield, Woodland, Perryville, Oak Ridge, Advance, Zalma and Meadow Heights.
Opening-round games today pit Delta vs. Meadow Heights at 5:30 p.m., Perryville vs. Oak Ridge at 7 and Bloomfield vs. Zalma at 8:30. Woodland will play Advance at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Semifinal action will take place at 7 p.m. and 8:30 Thursday, with the championship set for 8:30 p.m. Friday. Also Friday, the consolation final will be at 5:30 and the third-place game at 7.
Perryville was last year's champion, beating Delta 72-65 in the finals.
* Jackson's girls are seeded first with Jackson's boys second for the six-team brackets at Farmington.
On the boys side, Park Hills Central is the top seed, with North County third, Farmington fourth, Potosi fifth and Fredericktown sixth.
On the girls side, Park Hills Central is seeded second, with North County third, Farmington fourth, Fredericktown fifth and Potosi sixth.
Jackson's girls will play either Farmington or Fredericktown at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the semifinals. Farmington and Fredericktown square off at 5:30 p.m. today.
Jackson's boys will face either North County or Fredericktown at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals. North County and Fredericktown play at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The championship games are Friday at 6:30 p.m. (girls) and 8 (boys). Third-place games are Thursday, at 7 and 8:30.
Jackson's girls are the defending tournament champions. The Lady Indians finished second in the state in Class 4A the past two years.
* Cape Central's girls will take on Rosati Kain at 5:30 p.m. today in an opening-round game at Oakville.
Win or lose, the Lady Tigers will play at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The championship is set for 7 p.m. Thursday.
Other teams in the tournament are defending Class 4A state champion Gateway Tech, Fox, Oakville, Herculaneum, Cor Jesu and Francis Howell.
* Highly-regarded Hayti and Scott City spice the four-team Scott City round robin.
Scott City plays East Prairie at 6:30 p.m. and St. Vincent takes on Hayti at 8 in Thursday's games.
Friday, it's St. Vincent vs. East Prairie at 6:30 p.m. and Scott City vs. Hayti at 8, with Saturday's action featuring East Prairie vs. Hayti at 6 p.m. and Scott City vs. St. Vincent at 7:30.
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.