Tourney a disappointment?

It was a disappointing opening Thursday to the girls portion of the Oil Belt Classic, hosted by El Dorado. No, the games, which included a thrilling overtime victory by Neville over West Monroe, were not the problem.
Where was the crowd?
Coach Corey Smith did a good job bringing in quality teams. West Monroe, Neville, Ouachita, Carlisle, etc., are all capable of winning state championships this year. They're competing against one another, which makes this classic state-tournament caliber.
We're not going to get many state tournaments in our own backyard. So, when a tournament that has this kind of quality in it is in Union County, you're missing a golden opportunity if you don't take a look.
Anyway, the Lady Wildcats struggled against Ouachita, which has the most athletic squad that I've seen in a long time.
El Dorado has played a murderous nonconference schedule, losing to West Monroe, Fairview and now the unbeaten Lady Lions. I hope, for Coach Smith's sake, the tough schedule will start to pay dividends soon.
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Speaking of the Oil Belt, I was originially disappointed with Parkers Chapel for not jumping at the chance to play West Monroe this week. However, upon further review of the Lady Trojans' schedule, they couldn't have played the Lady Rebels even if they wanted to. Parkers Chapel plays Norphlet on Friday.
I'm somewhat relieved. Parkers Chapel can play whoever they want to play but I would've been disappointed if the Lady Trojans were actually too scared to compete against a bigger school.
Thankfully, that's not the case.
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Smackover and Strong play each other in the first round of the Magnolia Tournament next week. El Dorado is on the opposite side of the bracket. Look for an All-Union County final in that event.