Mid-County opens the basketball tournament season today with Port Neches-Groves’ PNG Indian Classic and Nederland’s Lady Bulldog Classic.

The Indians will host area top-dogs such as Kelly and Ozen High Schools. Houston Prep and Richard Milburn Academy round out the rest of the bracket.

Ozen and RMA start today’s action at 2 p.m. in the competition gym and games will continue through Saturday.

PN-G will play its first game at 6 p.m. when it squares off against RMA.

Indians head coach Patrick Abel said the tournament is designed so that each school will play plenty of games.

“Everybody will play everybody,” Abel said.

The Indians started their regular season with a 65-51 victory over Bridge City on Tuesday night. The Tribe was led by big-man Mitch Todd who dropped 14 points in limited minutes.

The Lady Dogs, meanwhile, will be in a fight from the start to make it to the end of their tournament, which is loaded with top teams.

Bulldogs head coach Chris Smith said this weekend will be no cake walk for anyone.

Nederland will host Church Hill, which is a 5A school from San Antonio that is ranked No. 13 in state.

The other teams in the field include Hemphill, which is ranked No. 4 in 2A, Silsbee, who is No. 5 is 3A, Lumberton, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Hamshire-Fannett, Bridge City, West Orange-Stark, Vidor, Kelly, West Brook, Jasper, Kirbyville, Anahuac, and Warren.

“This is the best field we’ve ever had in this tournament,” Smith said. “There should be a lot great games. We’re going into the weekend 3-0 and hoping to win some games and ride this streak out as far as it will go. The main thing is to just keep getting better.

“I think Church Hill will probably have to be the favorite but I don’t think anyone is going to walk in here and run away with the competition.”

Play will start today with a 9 a.m. game between LC-M and Jasper. Nederland plays its first game today at 4:30 when it squares off with Warren.

The Dogs are coming off a 55-41 win over Anahuac on Tuesday night.

Bethany McCrary led the team with 13 points, Taylor Carlson added 11 points and Alicia Thevis grabbed 10 rebounds and made eight steals.

Friday and Saturday’s games will be held in both the Dog Dome and Competition Gym. Today’s games will all be in the Dog Dome.



PN-G Indian Classic

Today’s games

2 p.m. — Ozen vs Richard Milburn Academy

4 p.m. — Kelly vs Houston Prep.

6 p.m. — Richard Milburn Academy vs. PN-G



Lady Bulldog Classic

Today’s games

9 a.m. — Lumberton vs Bridge City

10:30 a.m. — Hamshire-Fannett vs Hemphill

12 p.m. — LC-M vs Jasper

1:30 p.m. — Silsbee vs Anahuac

3 p.m. — Vidor vs WO-S

4:30 p.m. — Nederland vs Warren

6 p.m. — West Brook vs Kirbyville

7:30 p.m. — Kelly vs Church Hill



PN-G Indian Classic

Friday’s games

12 p.m. — Houston Prep. vs PN-G

2 p.m. — Richard Milburn Academy vs Kelly

4 p.m. — Ozen vs Houston Prep.

6 p.m. — Kelly vs PN-G



PN-G Indian Classic

Saturday’s games

9 a.m. — Kelly vs Ozen

11 a.m. — Houston Prep. vs Richard Millburn Academy

1 p.m. — Ozen vs PN-G



See results from both tournaments in Friday and Saturday’s issues. The Lady Bulldogs Classic schedule will be updated as the tournament progresses.