By Jayson Larson Sports Editor
One of the area’s largest and most prestigious basketball tournament’s is tipping off this week.
Brownsboro High School’s Great East Texas Shootout begins Thursday, with 43 boys and girls teams vying for the title. Of those, 27 are girls teams and 16 are boys.
The championship games will be played Saturday at the Brownsboro High School gym.
The Brownsboro Bearettes, ranked in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Top 20 this week, are in the tournament, as are the Bears.
Other teams from the area include the Athens Lady Hornets on the girls side and the Kemp Yellowjackets on the boys side.
The Lady Hornets open the tournament Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the intermediate gym against T.K. Gorman, which is coming off a championship performance at the Eustace girls varsity tournament last week.
The No. 19 Bearettes open play Thursday at 11:15 a.m. at the high school gym against Rusk.
The Bears and Yellowjackets will face each other in the first round at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the high school gym.
The tournament once again will include some of the top basketball teams in East Texas. The girls bracket includes five teams in the state Top 25, including Class 1A No. 2 Winnsboro, which won the tournament last year.
On the boys side, two Top 25 teams will be present, including Class 2A No. 11 Arp.
First round
Thursday
Boys Bracket
Parish Episcopal vs. Crandall, 10 a.m., intermediate gym
T.K. Gorman vs. Rusk, 10 a.m., junior high gym
Van vs. All Saints, 10 a.m., high school gym
Troup vs. Quitman, 11:15 a.m., elementary gym
Ore City vs. Chapel Hill, 11:15 a.m., intermediate gym
Canton vs. Grace Community, 12:30 p.m., elementary gym
Brownsboro vs. Kemp, 12:30 p.m., high school gym
Arp vs. Big Sandy, 2 p.m., elementary gym
First round
Thursday
Girls Bracket
Palestine vs. Van, 8:45 a.m., junior high gym
Rains vs. Chapel Hill, 8:45 a.m., intermediate gym
Grace Community vs. Jacksonville, 8:45 a.m., elementary gym
Lindale vs. Huntington, 8:45 a.m., high school gym
John Tyler vs. Mount Pleasant, 10 a.m., elementary gym
Bullard vs. Pine Tree, 11:15 a.m., junior high gym
Brownsboro vs. Rusk, 11:15 a.m., high school gym
Athens vs. T.K. Gorman, 12:30 p.m., intermediate gym
Parish Episcopal vs. Henderson, 12:30 p.m., junior high gym
Winnsboro vs. North Forney, 2 p.m., high school gym
Robert E. Lee vs. Kaufman, 2 p.m., junior high gym
Pittsburg vs. Kerens, 2 p.m., intermediate gym
Mount Vernon vs. Tatum, 3:15 p.m., elementary gym
