By Staff
PREP HOOPS ACTION Meridian's Dana Cox makes a fast break in a game played earlier this season against Livingston. The Lady Wildcats are geared up for the 2003 Light It Up Classic in Mobile, Ala. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Dec. 24, 2003
The Lady Wildcats of Meridian High School head for one last tournament on Saturday as they travel to Mobile, Ala. for the 2003 Light It Up Classic.
The double-elimination tournament will last four days, wrapping up on Dec. 31 after skipping a day on Sunday. The field features 16 teams from Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. Meridian will be joined by Moss Point High School as the only teams from Mississippi in the event.
The event will take place on the campuses of Spring Hill College and McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. Meridian's first game is Saturday against Vigor (Ala.) at 3:30 p.m. If the Lady Wildcats win, they will play again Dec. 29 at 3:30 p.m. Should they lose, they will fall into the consolation bracket and play again at 11 a.m. the same day.
The Lady Wildcats are guaranteed at least two games and could play as many as four during what has been a restless Christmas break. The tournament will provide the last return to action before Meridian plays at Hattiesburg High School on Jan. 6.
By the time the Lady Wildcats play the Tigers, they will have played only Heidelberg High School and their Light It Up Classic games since Dec. 13.
Their game against Heidelberg on Saturday was the Lady Wildcats' first game since the finals of the Frazier-Yarbrough Tournament a week earlier. Until the loss to the Lady Oilers last week, Meridian had won eight straight games.
The Light It Up Classic will not be the last tournament of the season for the Lady Wildcats. They will also participate in the Newton Tournament, which begins on Feb. 7. That event will be followed by two final non-division games against Wayne County High School and Provine (Jackson) High School before the Division 4-5A Tournament begins on Feb. 17. The state playoffs would follow.
This weekend's games will mark the third tournament of the year in which Meridian has competed. In addition to hosting the Frazier-Yarbrough Tournament earlier this month, the Lady Wildcats also competed in and won the Quitman Tournament Dec. 4-6.