As the end of the basketball season, now just six days away, approaches, the Paris senior boys and girls teams made the long trip to southwest Arkansas to play the Cossatot River Eagles in a pair of conference match-ups. Cossatot River is a consolidated school district that comprises the former Cove, Wickes, and Umpire school districts. The district is located approximately 20 minutes south of Mena on US Highway 71.
So, the Eagles and Lady Eagles made the little more than two hours drive to play at Cossatot. Earlier in the season, the Paris boys defeated Cossatot in Paris, and the Lady Eagles lost their game that same night to the Cossatot Lady Eagles. Both Paris teams have played well over the past two to three weeks, including a pair of victories on Tuesday night at home over Charleston.
The Lady Eagles, who continue to improve with each game, played well, but continued to struggle against the shooting guards of Cossatot who are very good with the outside shot from anywhere around the three-point arc. Paris played better against them defensively than they did in their first meeting, but the sharp-shooting Cossatot guards proved again to be too much for Paris. Paris was within two points of Cossatot with less than one minute to play in the game, but the Eagles eventually fell to Cossatot, 53-47.
But in the Lady Eagles game, there continued to be much to be excited about the future of this team as they have shown over the past few weeks how good they can be. It will be important for Paris to focus on the Cedarville Lady Pirates who will visit Paris on Tuesday night. Paris played competitively with Cedarville in their first meeting, and the Lady Eagles are playing better now than they were when the two met earlier in Cedarville. Tuesday’s game with Cedarville will be another measure of how much improvement the team has made, and a victory over the Lady Pirates would be huge for the Paris girls program. The game will be Jadyn Hart’s last regular season home game appearance, and she deserves a big crowd to come and support her and to thank her for her effort and great play throughout her career.
The Paris boys, fresh off of their win over Charleston, have made great progress and have also played very well over the past three weeks. In fact, Paris has made a run and has a chance to improve their district tournament seeding in the last week of the season against Cedarville on Tuesday and at Booneville on Thursday night.
At Cossatot, the Paris defense once again provided the energy to lead Cossatot from start to finish and complete the regular season sweep over the Cossatot Eagles. Paris did not show any signs of a let down after the emotional win earlier in the week over Charleston, which is a sign of maturity for the young Eagles team.
Paris was beaten soundly by Cedarville in their first meeting, but like the girls team, the Paris boys are a much-improved team now than when they were when the Eagles traveled to Cedarville. Tuesday’s game with the Pirates will be the final home game of the regular season and the Eagles will wrap-up the regular season Thursday night at Booneville.
Both teams will likely be on the road on Saturday for the first round of the district tournament. Due to COVID precautions, the district tournament will not be held at one site. The tournament will be held on the schools’ individual campuses at the higher of the two seeds. The match-ups, times, and locations of Paris’s games will not be known until Friday and the completion of the regular season. As soon as the seedings are announced, Resident Press will publish a listing of games and their locations and times.
In the meantime, please continue to wear your masks and take precautions to protect your own safety as well as that of the players and coaches. We are nearing completion of the high school basketball season, and none of us want to see a repeat of this time last year when the season was abruptly cancelled just before the state tournament finals.
Tuesday’s first game tips off at 6 p.m. at Paris Gymnasium. It will likely be the final night of basketball on campus, and both the Eagles and Lady Eagles need your support on this final home night. The players and coaches on both teams continue to work hard and they deserve your support.
Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday, and I’ll see you Tuesday night at Paris Gymnasium!
