While most students spent their Christmas break sleeping in, traveling, and relaxing, the boys and girls basketball teams spent their vacation in Walnut Grove playing in their holiday tournament.
The action started on December 21, when the boys took on Walnut Grove in the first round of the tournament.
The boys had already played them once before in the regular season and had lost by a large margin. During the tournament, they came up short again, losing 22-58.
It was not a great start for the boys, but to make matters worse the team’s only two seniors quit the team mid-tournament, leaving them to face Pleasant Hope starting two juniors and three freshman.
Like Walnut Grove, the boys had already faced Pleasant Hope earlier in the season and had lost by 34. The situation looked pretty grim, but the boys shocked the crowd by playing close until the end when Pleasant Hope pulled away for a final score of 40-53.
In the final game, the boys faced Exeter. The game was close all the way through, but in the end, it was Exeter that went home with the win, 43-48.
On December 22, the girls made their first trip to Walnut Grove to take on Monett. They won easily, 70-13.
In the second round, the girls were to take on Fordland without three of their nine players, including starting senior Kelsey Ruhland. Despite only having six players, the girls came home with a 71-50 victory.
The third round game found the girls facing Pleasant Hope in a fight for a spot in the championship round. After a slow third quarter, the team rallied back, but in the end, the girls came up short, losing by a single point, 64-65.
In the third place game, the girls faced a strong Southwest team. The girls battled hard but once again found themselves going home with a loss of 57-68, and placing 4th in the tournament overall.
Junior Maddie Hursh set a record for the number of threes in a game in the tournament with 8, number of threes in the tournament with 27, and was placed on the All-Tournament Team.
Immediately following the Walnut Grove tournament, the boys began the Seymour Tournament.
In the first round, the boys went up against Central. After a tough game, the boys lost 29-65.
Next they played Bradleyville. The game was close until the half, but in the end, Chadwick lost 74-56.
While the boys competed at Seymour, the girls entered the Sparta tournament.
In the first round, the girls played Bradleyville, and came home with an effortless win, 67-35.
The next night, they took on the Sparta Lady Trojans in a highly anticipated game. However, it wasn’t the close game the crowd had predicted as the Lady Cardinals dominated Sparta 66-32, and were sent to the Championship game against Seymour.
The girls fought hard in the second half of the championship, but couldn’t pull off the win. They finished 33-50.
The Lady Cardinals received 2nd place in the tournament and junior Maddie Hursh and sophmore Kailyn Rozell both received All-Tournament Team honors.
