Mother Nature just keeps getting in the way of the Mountain Pine Lady Red Devils' first regional appearance in more than half a decade.
Mountain Pine, seeded fourth from Class 2A-5, is slated to tip off the Class 2A East Region tournament at 4 p.m. today at Mount Ida, but that could be put on hold with today's forecast of the fourth winter storm to hit Arkansas in two weeks. The Lady Devils have also been preparing for two different teams because of the weather.
They await the winner of Tuesday night's 2A-6 final between Clarendon and host Hazen. That district tournament has been delayed three different times by winter weather, the start pushed back to Wednesday by one storm, semifinals pushed back to Saturday by another and finals delayed by Sunday's freezing rain and Monday's snow.
The 2A-5 district at England was only affected by the Feb. 15 and 16 storm, starting Wednesday and concluding Saturday. Mountain Pine (10-11) secured its regional berth by topping Ouachita in Thursday's quarterfinals before falling to the host Lady Lions in the semifinals.
Mountain Pine is used to overcoming adversity, playing most of the season with only seven varsity players before getting ninth-grade assistance once the junior campaign concluded earlier this month. Any kind of foul problems proved big trouble for the Lady Red Devils.
They got off to a slow start under first-year coach Jamie Williams, 1-3 before winning four of the next five. The last game of the surge was one of the Lady Devils' biggest wins, 46-32 over a Parkers Chapel team consistently ranked in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Class 2A top six, in January's Spa City Classic at Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
Mountain Pine used its biggest asset, size, to beat the Lady Trojans. The Lady Devils pose problems for most teams with six-footers Jordan Godwin, all-conference a year ago, and Brooke Meeks manning the blocks.
The backcourt, led by point guard Hailee Crosby, is all 5-foot-7 or taller. Mountain Pine has Williams coaching her first regional game, two seasons after guiding Cutter Morning Star.
Mountain Pine finished 5-7 in conference, nearly upsetting district runner-up Magnet Cove in the league finale. With a victory today, the Lady Devils would qualify for next week's state tournament at Pangburn.
It would also keep them from the one-and-done performances of their last two regional trips. They lost to Danville in both 2007 and '08 in the West Region, 53-46 the first year at Jessieville and 62-30 at Johnson County Westside.
* Another regional tournament that could be affected by today's weather is the 4A South at Monticello. The field was finalized Tuesday after Monday's snow and ice forced Pine Bluff Dollarway to cancel its regular-season finale at Dumas, costing the Cardinals a spot in the field.
Arkadelphia's boys, 4A-7 district winners, are scheduled to face Warren at 5:30 p.m. today while Bauxite meets Dumas at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Sports on 02/25/2015