By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

There’s bad news for Webb City opponents in the 13th annual Joplin High School Freeman/Lady Eagle Classic.

The No. 1-seeded Cardinals are coming off their top performance of the early season, according to coach Brad Shorter.

The defending champion Cardinals, 4-0, and Overland Park (Kan.) Blue Valley West, 1-1, are scheduled to tip off at 9 tonight to wrap up the opening session in Kaminsky Gymnasium.

The Cardinals won 70-25 at Rogersville on Tuesday night.

“We’re coming off our best performance ... so far,” Shorter said on Wednesday. “We were crisp in our overall game. Our defense — using a man-to-man most of the time — was effective.”

Returning mainstays Kaitlin Jaeger and Hailey Roderique combined for 39 points to lead the Cardinals on offense.

Webb City defeated Neosho 63-61 for the title last season by outscoring the Wildcats 22-16 in the fourth quarter. Miller beat Marshfield 65-63 for third place in 2008.

The remainder of today’s first round is second-seeded Miller (0-1) vs. Harrison (1-3) at 4:30 p.m., Joplin (1-1) vs. No. 3 Marshfield (2-1) at 6 and Neosho (1-2) vs. fourth-seeded Springdale (Ark.) Har-Ber (4-2) at 7:30.

Four more games with identical starting times are scheduled on Friday. Saturday’s four-game session starts at noon with the seventh-place game.

Daily admission prices are $3 and $2.

Miller vs. Harrison

Fair Grove, although Missouri State signee Hannah Wilkerson scored 38 for Mlller, spoiled the visiting Cardinals’ opener on Monday night with a 76-71 victory.

Arkansas Class 5A Harrison, returning to the event, was able to see the 5-foot-8 Wilkerson, operate, noted Goblin coach Doug Young.

“We were impressed last season,” Young said. “They (the Cardinals) will be difficult without much size on our part.”

Young said that 6-0 sophomore Kelsey Terrell is a doubtful tourney participant after spraining an ankle.

Said Miller coach Brandon Weiss: “Harrison presses to create a healthy part of its offense. They want to control the tempo of the game and they’d like an up-tempo style. I’d like to see a lot of points. ... in our favor.”

Weiss added that Harrison has a good point guard and a good post. But the post is the ailing Terrell.

Joplin vs. Marshfield

Said Joplin coach Vicki Spivy of the Blue Jays: “They are a basic Gary Murphy team. They play very hard and are physical.”

Joplin, which opened by beating Neosho in overtime, lost 40-32 at Carthage on Tuesday night.

“We had the effort but didn’t play hard with a purpose,” Spivy said. “We didn’t do the little things. You won’t win many games scoring 32 points and our scoring only 5 in the second quarter was the difference in the game.”

Marshfield, which lost at Neosho, is coming off a 51-46 win at Urbana Skyline on Monday night.

The Blue Jays currently have just one returning starter in 5-5 junior Alley Bruton. They lost senior Ashley Boshe for this season because of an ACL tear after she missed her junior campaign with a tear of the other.

Murphy, in his 20th season at Marshfield, has won 551 games overall. He’s a graduate of Wheaton High School and mom Hazel lives in Joplin in retirement after a teaching career.

Neosho vs. Har-Ber

Halee Castleman, point guard who’s signed with St. Louis University, heads the Har-Ber veterans, according to coach Sandy Wright.

“This is the biggest team overall I’ve had in 28 years of coaching,” Wright said. “We’re young, though, and it’s been an up-and-down season so far.”

The positive results include a win against Springfield Glendale.

Last year’s team finished just 11-18, Wright said, but reached the quarterfinals in the Arkansas Class 7A Tournament.

Kayln Vlasin, a 6-1 junior, is powering Neosho with averages of 24 points and 13 rebounds and classmate Brooke Hulsey is chipping in respective averages of 13 and 8.

Said Neosho coach Lance Robbins: “The point guard (Castleman) is a nice player. Har-Ber, as a team, has good size and is athletic.”

Webb City vs. Blue Valley West

Said Shorter of the Jaguars: “Definitely, we don’t look at West, which has several veterans, as a No. 8 seed. We consider them a quality opponent and we need to play well.”

Jaguar point Rachel Boan is headed for MidAmerica Nazarene of Olathe, said West coach Matt Adams.

“It sounds like Webb City will be a heck of a challenge,” Adams said. “We’ve heard they don’t have a weakness. We need to be at our best to compete.”

Jordan Roane, a 5-9 senior, has scored 26 points in the two games for West.

Adams, a graduate of Berean Christian School and Southwest Baptist, Bolivar, Mo., assumes the reins after assisting two years at Olathe South.