Saxony to begin defense of Holiday Classic title

Last year the Saxony Lutheran girls basketball team came into the Kelso Supply Holiday Classic as the four seed with its lone loss at the hands of Notre Dame.

The Crusaders went on to win the tournament.

The 2013 Kelso Supply Holiday Classic begins today, and top-seeded Saxony again has just one loss heading into the tournament -- a 45-38 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday.

The Crusaders begin their attempt to defend their title at 4 p.m., when they face eighth-seeded Scott City at the Show Me Center.

"Last year was kind of a monumental deal for us," Saxony coach Sam Sides said. "First time we ever won a game in that tournament and we ended up winning the whole tournament."

The Crusaders have a solid chance to repeat as champions -- with eight of the team's nine players being sophomores that were members of the team last year, but Sides noted that his team has struggled with turnovers against pressure defenses like Notre Dame's.

"Well, we've got a chance. We've always got a chance, I think," Sides said. "I've got some talented girls and we play hard. We've just got to fine-tune some things to get better, but I think we're capable. ... It's not going to be a cakewalk, that's for sure. There's a few teams in there that I think are capable of beating us. We've just got to play our game."

Notre Dame, the two seed, is undefeated in its first three games of the season and may represent the biggest threat to a Crusaders repeat.

"On a given night anything can happen and my girls know that," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "We're not taking anything for granted by any stretch of the imagination -- we've got to get to that game first, which means we've got to win two games before we get to that championship game. One game at a time.

"If we do get that opportunity to play them again, then obviously our game plan won't vary much. Hopefully we'll try to hit a few more shots than we did last Saturday, but I thought our intensity and our heart was there and we found a way to win."

The Bulldogs also are an experienced yet older team with eight seniors that Peters said she can interchange. She noted that her team's biggest weakness is size.

"We're little," Peters said. "And that was my biggest concern going into the season because we play a really rigid schedule -- a lot of Class 5 schools up in St. Louis -- but sometimes speed and heart can overcome size, and that's what we're really trying to work on this year. We've got to find ways to outmaneuver their size and find ways to win. So far I'm pleased with how I've seen my girls perform."

The Bulldogs take on seventh-seeded Meadow Heights at 7 p.m. today.

Jackson is the three seed and closes the first day of the tournament against sixth-seeded Perryville at 8:30 p.m.

The game between fourth-seeded Sikeston and fifth-seeded Central takes places at 5:30 p.m. Central finished second in the tournament last season.

Peters noted that Central, Jackson and Sikeston are going to be strong competition in addition to Saxony.

"I'm looking forward to playing these teams on the Show Me Center floor," Peters said. "It's a fun time of year. We're finishing up semester tests and finals this week, and it's just kind of nice to put that behind us and concentrate on basketball."