The Paris basketball program played in the week long Lavaca Invitational Tournament last week at Lavaca High School. Both the senior boys and girls teams played tournament games.
The Paris senior boys lost two close games to both Pea Ridge and Providence Academy. Paris played without starter Jesse Wells for both games, but were very competitive in both games. The Eagles are looking ahead to having Wells back in time for the start of the conference schedule.
The Lady Eagles opened the tournament with a blowout win over West Fork in the first round. On Thursday evening, Paris faced the home team Lavaca Lady Golden Arrows in the winners bracket to have the opportunity to advance to Saturday evening’s tournament championship game. Like the Paris boys team, the Lady Eagles were playing at less than full strength due to senior Brailey Forst having sustained a lower body injury the previous week of Thanksgiving in their game at Dover. Forst did not dress for the West Fork game and had limit practice leading up to the game with Lavaca. Playing almost the entire game, Forst was obviously limited in her ability to play and was in pain for the entire game. Paris fought hard, but the combination of being a less than full strength, along with foul trouble that included senior Jayden Wells having four fouls before the end of the third quarter, was too much for Paris to overcome in front of a raucous Lavaca home crowd. Lavaca went on to defeat Paris by the score of 70-56.
But in the middle of all of the cheers and rants from the crowd from both schools, there were two seniors who were playing with a renewed sense of appreciation for the opportunity to play. Lavaca senior Anna Davis, who RNN brought you a feature story on this summer, was burned badly in a fire aboard a church van in Tulsa this summer. At one point this summer, there was significant doubt that the senior would be able to play. And for Paris, Brailey Forst, a senior as well, fresh off of an injury the week of Thanksgiving was battling through pain to play her senior year.
For athletes, it can all end way too soon. And for both Davis and Forst, they are both the epitomy of how much the games mean to them, and how precious it is to have the opportunity to play the games they love. RNN Sports wishes both Anna Davis and Brailey Forst the best for the 2022-23 season.
