The Norm Stewart Classic combined basketball with a marathon.
Each year, high school basketball games are played continuously for two straight days at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Now, Springfield is getting its own 48 Hours of Basketball.
Greenwood is hosting the event, which tipped off Friday.
Everybody has a pregame routine.
“We’ll get here an hour early, let the girls get changed and get ready to go get a few shots up at the gym, have our pregame meeting before and then run out and go through our warmups,” said Laquey girls basketball head coach Michael Parten.
That’s Laqueys normal routine, but when the Lady Hornets play in 48 Hours of Basketball it will be anything but normal.
“They had one spot left and it was at 4am and they asked if we wanted it, and we took it,” Parten said.
“It was really shocking to us when we first found out, it was kind of crazy but we’re all excited,” said Laquey senior Aurora Rice.
Rice has never played a game that early, at 4 a.m. she’s usually, “Sleeping,” she said. But the change in sleep schedule doesn’t change her excitement.
“It’s crazy, I don’t know how we’re even going to stay awake for it but just the adrenaline is going to keep us up. We’re all pretty excited though, it’s very different,” Rice said.
A different start time will force a different gameday routine.
“Try to have them in bed around 8 p.m., we’re going to have to wake up around 2 a.m. so there’s no good way to get a full night’s sleep in this but do the best we can and see how it all plays out,” Parten said.
“We’re going to see how it goes, we’re going to try and have fun. A lot of the players aren’t too happy about having to get up that early, but I think that it’s such a rare experience that we’re going to make the best out of it,” Rice added.
For coach Parten this game is about more than the final score.
“We get to build a memory that will last these girls the rest of their lives hopefully,” Parten said.
Even if that means waking up in the middle of the night.
