For the first time in the 36 year history of The Ladies Classic Basketball Tournament the full complement of Greene County teams will not be in the field of the prestigious post-Christmas classic.
Both South Greene and West Greene have elected not to play in this year’s event Greeneville Parks and Recreation Director and Tournament Director Butch Patterson confirmed at the Parks and Rec April board meeting on Tuesday at Eastview Rec Center.
The Tournament is scheduled for December 26-31 at Hal Henard Gymnasium.
Patterson notified the other local schools of the Lady Rebels’ and Lady Buffaloes’ decisions, and confirmed Chuckey-Doak, Greeneville and North Greene do plan to play in the tournament again this season.
South Greene athletic director Terry Hoese stated that this year the Lady Rebels have chosen to join the South Greene boys team for a tournament in Pensacola, Florida. He does believe that the Lady Rebels will rejoin the Ladies Classic field in future years, but this year the team wanted to make the trip to Florida over its holiday break.
It is unclear if West Greene has made formal plans for a different holiday tournament at this time.
South Greene won the first four Ladies Classic tournaments, going 16-0 during that time. It won its first 19 games in the tournament before losing in the semifinals in 1993. South Greene has been runner up twice, in 2008 and 2015. It finished in third place in 1993 and 2009
Overall, South Greene is 68-35 all time in the Ladies Classic but only 3-11 the past four seasons. South Greene only went winless once in the tournament when it finished 0-3 in 2022.
West Greene is 10-86 all time in the Ladies Classic. The Lady Buffaloes most wins were two, in the first year of the tournament in 1989 when they finished fourth, and again in 2011.
The last time a local team advanced to the championship game of the Ladies Classic was 2021 when Greeneville fell to Bullitt East, Ky 64-52 in the finals. The last time a local team won the tournament was South Greene in 1992 when it beat Oak Ridge 69-60
Parks and Recreation Athletic Director Tim Bowman reported 18 of the 20 teams are already locked into the field, including three defending state champions. He says there is a potential for five defending state champs to be in the tournament when the official field is set.
