See all our photos from the Southwest tournaments at: https://cassvilledemocrat.zenfoliosite.com/photo-galleries/winter-sports-1/2025-southwest-holiday-tournament?ct=2

Lady Trojans post best local finish in 3rd place

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

It was a patriotic four days of basketball at Southwest High School over the winter break, as East Newton’s boys and girls doubled up in tourney titles.

The Patriots defeated Monett, 40-23, in the championship of the 43rd Annual Southwest Boys Holiday Tournament, and the Lady Patriots topped Forsyth, 58-38, in the 12th Annual Southwest Girls Holiday Tournament. 

Of the six local teams participating, the Southwest girls posted the best finish, taking third place with a 54-52 victory over Seneca. Wheaton’s girls finished in fifth place and Purdy took seventh.

In the boys tournament, the Trojans finished in fourth place, Purdy took sixth and Wheaton landed seventh.

Southwest boys coach Jeff Treat said the Trojans, the No. 7 seed, got off to a hot start and gained some early confidence with a 39-29 upset of No. 2 seed McAuley, 36-29.

“We got another confidence booster from beating a quality McAuley team,” he said. “At the beginning of the year, the question was, can we beat good teams and win close games, and that game helped us realize that we can do that. We know scoring has been a struggle all year, but we are not striving to be a good defensive team, we’re striving to be elite. We are not quite there yet, but we are on the right track. 

“We also saw hadn’t seen much zone before this tournament, and every team this tournament we played against, the majority of the time, the other team went zone.”

Southwest went on to fall to Monett, 40-32, then to SWMO Rush, 60-44. Leading a young squad, Treat said the tournament provided a solid learning experience.

“With our young group, it was a good experience to play in front of a lot of people in pressure environments,” he said. “When you get deeper into the season, the pressure is going to start rising, and hopefully, the experiences we got in the tournament will help us.”

Brad Stewart, Purdy coach, said for the Eagles, each game was a tale of two halves. Purdy fell to SWMO Rush, 64-46, then defeated Wheaton, 62-42, and fell to McAuley in overtime, 48-47.

“We played an excellent first half versus all three teams,” Stewart said. “After a tougher first half against Rush, we played them dead even 34-34 in the second half. We were up by double digits against Wheaton and McAuley, 22 and 12, and we were unable to hold off a late McAuley surge.”

Like their southern Barry County counterparts, Stewart said the Eagles also endured a learning experience.

“We learned we are capable of some stellar play,” he said. “We need consistency and the ability to finish games moving forward.”

Sean Crane, Wheaton boys coach, said the Bulldogs may not have hit marks they hoped, but it was positive to finish on a win.

“We didn’t play our best in this tournament, but we did bounce back and play pretty well against Seneca,” he said. “I think we have made major strides so far this season, and I look forward to that continuing. I’m not sure the tournament itself helps us a ton, but all of games combined so far this season has set up well. We are playing good competition so far. At 6-7, we have already doubled last year’s win total, and we look to keep growing and build off of our first half of the season.”

Wheaton fell to East Newton in the opener, 52-29, then to Purdy, 62-42, ultimately taking seventh with a 63-36 victory over Seneca.

On the girls’ side, Shawn Johnson, Southwest girls basketball coach, said the Lady Trojans made important strides in consistency and composure at the tournament.

“We improved in how we handled pressure situations, especially responding to runs and closing out quarters with more focus and confidence,” he said. “Each game helped us grow mentally and reinforced the importance of staying locked in for four quarters.

“[The tournament] helped our team identify areas where we can continue to improve while building confidence in what we do well. Most importantly, it strengthened our chemistry and mental toughness. We’re better prepared to handle adversity, make adjustments and compete consistently as we enter conference play and push toward our goals for the rest of the season.”

Southwest defeated Wheaton, 54-17, fell to Forsyth in the semifinals, 44-43, and bested Seneca, 54-52, for third place.

Jessica Dermott, Wheaton girls coach, said the three games played showed strides in playing with the right mentality.

“Learning to get tougher was something we got better at, and we need to continue to do that going into conference play,” she said. “Playing both ends of the court and continuing to do the little things will help as we continue our season play.”

Wheaton fell to Southwest, 54-17, and Forsyth, 48-24, before defeating SWMO Rush to take fifth place.

Only getting two games because the tournament had seven girls teams, Purdy’s girls fell to Seneca, 61-49, and SWMO Rush, 30-20.

“I thought we played decent our first game in the tournament,” said Stephanie Heman, Lady Eagles coach. “I saw some positive things, especially coming off of our win over Verona before Christmas. However, our second game, we came out flat and couldn’t get any momentum. Our biggest thing right now is our lack of consistency.  

“We have a lot of potential, but we start out slow and dig ourselves into a hole that we can’t recover from. Our finish was disappointing, but I’m hopeful that we will learn from our performance and make the necessary adjustments going into the second half of the season.”

Boys All-tournament Team

MVP: Caden Youngblood, East Newton

Kellen Hathcock, SWMO Rush

Brody Bateman, Wheaton

Grady Mahurin, Purdy

Conner Taffner, McAuley

Ethan Bales, East Newton

Benny Graves, SWMO Rush

Kaden Cole, East Newton

Lane Hendrix, Southwest

Jack Stephens, Monett

Girls All-Tournament Team

MVP: Sylvia Larsen, East Newton

Kelby Rinehart, East Newton

Olivia Hnem, Southwest

Harmony Loftis, Wheaton

Jolie King, Seneca

Halle Cook, East Newton

Taylor Braden, Forsyth

Olivia Haase, Seneca

Jaretsi Quintanilla, Southwest

Lauren Turner, Forsyth