OFC girls race about to heat up

So far this season in the Ozark Foothills Conference, their hasn't been too many conference games play amongst the girls teams.

Leading up to the OFC tournament in February, things should get interesting as the teams will lock up more frequently down the stretch as teams fight for higher seeds and the regular season title.

Right now, Neelyville has been the top team in the conference as they boast a 3-1 record, winning conference games by an average of 16.3 points per game. They also have an additional wins over Greenville in the Lady Dawg Classic and over Doniphan and Twin Rivers at the Lady Royal Classic.

The Lady Tigers have scoring threats all over the floor as five different girls have led the team in scoring this year.

Naylor, which is just 1-0 in the conference play so far, are the only OFC team to beat Neelyville in a non-tournament game (Clearwater beat Neelyville at the Lady Royal Classic).

The Lady Eagles, however, will be short-handed the rest of the season with top-scorer Holly Deckard out with a torn ACL.

Naylor will face two OFC opponents in Clearwater and Twin Rivers after the OFC tournament. The Lady Eagles were ranked fifth in the most recent Class 1 poll.

Clearwater has been the surprise team of OFC under first-year coach Brandi Moore, who formally played at Three Rivers.

The Lady Tigers, who are 1-2 within the conference, pulled the upset of the tournament at the Lady Royal Classic last month by beating Neelyville.

Lindsay Bell and Emily Miller have helped the team offensively. Bell has averaged 12.2 points per game over her last five while Miller scored 23 in the upset over Neelyville.

Clearwater has a hard finish to its OFC schedule with road games at Greenville (Jan. 29) and at Naylor (Feb. 24).

The Twin Rivers Lady Royals are 1-1 in the OFC in the conference with its most recent conference win coming against Clearwater.

The Lady Royals have won two of its last three games and play host to Greenville for their third meeting of the season tonight.

Twin Rivers has previously lost to Greenville in Lady Dawg Classic and in the Lady Royal Classic.

Greenville has played just one conference game and that was a one-point loss at Neelyville on Dec. 18.

The Lady Bears haven't played a game since the fifth-place semifinal against Portageville back on Jan. 2.

Greenville has three straight OFC games starting Jan. 22 against Naylor, then East Carter (Jan. 26) and Clearwater (Jan. 29).

The Donettes haven't been tested yet in conference play as they've only played last place East Carter back on Dec. 8.

Doniphan owns another victory over East Carter at the Lady Royal Classic, but lost to Neelyville the following day by 20 points.

The Donettes have played a tough schedule of SEMO Conference teams so far and are 5-4 on the season.

Like Neelyville, the Donettes have had several different leading scorers this season which should be a tough to cover for other OFC teams.

East Carter has struggled in conference play thus far with an 0-3 record.

The Lady Redbirds are still young with seven freshman and two sophomores under first-year coach Missy Cox.

East Carter still has to play host to Twin Rivers on Jan. 19 and travel to Greenville (Jan. 26) and Neelyville (Jan. 29).

GAMES TO WATCH Tonight on the hardwood features the aforementioned third game of the season between the Greenville Lady Bears and the Twin Rivers Lady Royals in Broseley. The teams could still meet two more times this year in the OFC tournament and in districts. Greenville is 2-0 against the Lady Royals.

Friday night's top games include Poplar Bluff traveling to Twin Rivers where the Mules will look for revenge on last season's loss. Also Naylor, which is at full strength with two key players in Cody Hanner and Ethan Woolard returning in the past few games, will travel to Doniphan in a key OFC game.

On Monday, the Naylor girls (ranked No. 5 in Class 1) will travel to Dexter (No. 1 in Class 4) in a rematch of a semifinal game at the Lady Royal Classic. Dexter won 66-41 that night. The Poplar Bluff Lady Mules will travel to Notre Dame that night as well.

And on Tuesday night, Twin Rivers will have a tough test at home against New Madrid County Central and Neelyville will have its hands full on the road at Bernie. Puxico will also face Dexter at home in a rematch of the quarterfinals at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.

Rob Tate's weekly prep notebook runs each Thursday in the DAR.