El Dorado set to host Camden Fairview
El Dorado boys' basketball coach Jimmy Porter was asked if he planned to give the football players a few days before putting them on the court. The question drew a laugh.
“No. We're definitely taking our football guys,” he said. “It's December 7. We're really proud of those guys but we're excited to get them back in the gym.”
The Wildcats won the 6A state football championship on Saturday. Porter said 12 of them had their first basketball practice on Monday. Tonight, El Dorado hosts Camden Fairview in the home opener at Wildcat Arena.
Both JV games will be played simultaneously at 5 p.m. with the varsity girls set to tip-off at 6 p.m., followed by varsity boys.
El Dorado's varsity boys are 1-2 on the season beating Cabot and falling to Texas High and Benton.
“We played that schedule with our 11 off-season basketball guys,” said Porter. “We've got 12 coming from football that (Monday) was our first official day with us. We'll get them situated with lockers, uniforms and all that stuff and we'll roll into Camden with our first official game at home.”
The Wildcats have played without Laronte McHenry, who is scheduled to return in January from a knee injury. Porter said he planned to start the game with the non-football players.
“I'm pretty confident in our group we've had with us. We'll start with them,” he said. “We'll try to ease some football guys into the game and let them get some live-game reps. But overall, we're going to try to win the game. Whatever five are flowing the best throughout the game, that'll be the five we'll have in there in crunch time.”
The Lady Wildcats are 1-1 under new coach Ashlee Curtis, who will be making her home debut as well.
“I've got a little bit of mixed emotions about it. I'm super excited. I can't wait for the girls to be able to show how hard they've been working and it be on the home court,” she said. “We've had a pretty good fan base traveling with us for our first two games. It's been amazing. If I said I wasn't nervous, I'd be lying to you. I'm excited for everybody to be able to feed off the energy we have. It's a crazy amount of energy that's coming.”
Annually, the games between El Dorado and Fairview have been close and intense. Curtis said the Lady Cardinals will bring talent to the court.
“They're very well coached. Coach Jackson does a great job with them,” she said. “He's one of those coaches that you can say, he's there for all the right reasons. With that, natural athletes just pop up. They come out of the woodwork. He's got a great team. They're pretty big compared to my squad. They've got great shooters. It'll be a great game.”
The Cardinals beat Hope but lost to Junction City in the Fordyce Tournament last week.
“With it being a rivalry game and them coming off a loss, we'll get their best game they could possibly put out,” said Porter. “They're going to play hard. They're going to crash the boards hard. They'll do everything they can do to try to beat us.”
El Dorado vs. Fairview is always special. Porter said tonight's game will have added significance for more important reasons.
“It is a Pink Out Cancer Awareness game,” he said. “We'll have about 19 or 20 people in our community who have either fought and beat breast cancer or are going through their battle with breast cancer. We're going to honor that in between the girls' and boys' game.”