35th ANNUAL PIZZA HUT INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY NEWBRIDGE BANK POSTPONED;
Monday Games Now Set For Tuesday at Greensboro Coliseum Complex
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Due to the inclement winter weather that
struck the Piedmont Triad last night and this morning, the 35th annual Pizza
Hut Invitational presented by NewBridge Bank has been postponed, it was
announced today.
The first-round games, originally scheduled for Monday, Dec. 27
at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center, will be played on Tuesday,
Dec. 28, barring any further delays required by road conditions. The
following schedule will be played on Tuesday with all games set for the
Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center:
Women’s Tournament:
2 p.m. No. 3 Northern Guilford vs. No. 6 Greensboro Day
3:30 p.m. No. 1 Northwest Guilford vs. No. 8 Northeast Guilford
5:30 p.m. No. 4 Grimsley High School vs. No. 5 Ragsdale High School
7 p.m. No. 2 Page High School vs. No. 7 Smith High School
Men’s Tournament:
3 p.m. No. 3 Smith High School vs. No. 6 Ragsdale High School
4:30 p.m. No. 1 Greensboro Day vs. No. 8 Northwest Guilford
6:30 p.m. No. 2 Northeast Guilford vs. No. 7 Northern Guilford
8 p.m. No. 4 Page High School vs. No. 5 Grimsley High School
Second-round games will move to Wednesday, Dec. 29 with the
following games played in the following locations at the Greensboro Coliseum
Complex:
Men’s semifinals: 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in the
Greensboro Coliseum Arena
Women’s consolation games: 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the Special Events
Center
Men’s consolation games: 2 p.m. and 3:30 in the Special Events Center
Women’s Semifinals: 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Special Events
Center
The schedule for Thursday, Dec. 30 remains unchanged. Third
place and championship games for both the men’s and women’s tournaments will
be played in the Greensboro Coliseum Arena. All other consolation games
will be played in the Special Events Center.
“The safety of our competitors and fans as well as tournament
and coliseum officials is our primary concern,†Pizza Hut Invitational
co-chair Randy Cobb said. “We have worked closely with the Guilford County
Schools and the Greensboro Coliseum staff to create a plan that allows the
games to be played while keeping everyone safe. We look forward to starting
the Pizza Hut Invitational on Tuesday.â€
The Pizza Hut Invitational presented by NewBridge Bank is an annual high
school basketball tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Founded in 1976 as the
Little 4 Invitational, the tournament features men’s and women’s teams
representing eight Guilford County high schools playing at the Greensboro
Coliseum Complex. One hundred percent of tournament proceeds are donated to
local charities and the participating schools; the Pizza Hut Invitational is
planned and implemented by the Greensboro Sports Council.
This is a big mistake. The roads are fine. I am sure that Guilford County Schools is the one to do this. This will really hurt attendance. They are playing in Winston and also Raleigh. They should have started today at 11. This is just typical Guilford County Schools. Everybody is out and about anyway. Am I right or wrong.
Fan is absolutely right big big mistake.
this is just another example of what makes no sense within the public school system. the majority of these kids will go to the game and from the game with their parents and all of the schools in attendance are from the city not from some pleasant garden or stokesdale wooded community with no snow moving equipment. all of these same kids will be out at some book store, smoothie shop or the mall this afternoon so not just play the games as scheduled. if this was a private school tournament, then this tournament would have operated as planned. the public school system simply has too many rules that just do not make sense.
we brought tickets in advance of this tournament but we will not buy them in advance next year (if we even consider it next year). it is bad enough that a school like Dudley is not even in the tournament but now they are moving games to the early morning hours. the Durham Co schools created the same type of problem for the Raleigh tournament. this should have been a decision for the schools and their parents and not some admin that may not even attend the tournament even if it was 70 degrees outside.
Really? They delayed it one friggin day. What’s the big deal?
I understand what you mean! Today was the only day I was able to go too. I gave the other tickets away and will have to do the same with the one I was going to use.. I don’t mind sharing or donating to the schools, but it’s almost like no one even thinks about the people who subsidize these ventures—US!!! I could see the GCS role in the decision if it were their tournament or school were in session.
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I bet if the truth was known it was the county athletic director that wanted to cancel. The more rules you haave the more problems. iF the roads were bad I would agree, but roads are no problem at all. The kids are going to be out anyway , so why not play. Just another example of people administering that do not know what they are doing
DUKE IS PLAYING UNCG WEDNESDAY AND OAK RIDGE IS PLAYING NEW HAMPTON PREP @ 3:00PM AT THE COLISEUM SO GUESS WHAT GAME I AM GOING TO BE @?? THIS IS A GOOD CHANCE FOR ALL THE FANS TO SEE SOME REAL BASKETBALL… GO OAK RIDGE!!!!!!! DO THE PEOPLE AT THE LITTLE FOUR THINK ABOUT THAT?
I heard that game was cancelled “Oak Ridge DAD”. That came from one of your coaches at church on Sunday. You must have left before the sermon!!!!
Can anyone beat GDS in this tournament? If so, who has the best shot?
If GDS plays on all cylinders no one in that tournament can beat them, but in high school anyone can lose on a given day. Remember these are kids. GDS plays a pressing defense while other teams I seen play this year just go through the motions of playing defense and use it a a time to re-coup
A lot of fans are looking right square in the face at the GDS-NEG finals for the boys…Who is going to pull the upset? Will it be Smith over NEG or maybe Page or Grimsley over GDS or will Northern pull the big spoiler and knock off NEG in Round One???
We don’t hear a lot about Smith, but the Golden Eagles have a pretty tight team and they are athletic and can run the court….A few times they have looked more athletic in warmups than they did in the games, but we will see if they bring their game this week…There have been a lot of teams over the years that showed up strong in the pre-game, but they missed out on the 32 minutes in between….
NEG is coming in looking to prove their identity and to show they’ve earned that #2 spot and that #1 is on their radar…..Scales, Benjamin, Tijani and Smith(Cam), plus Williamson want to put a Ram stamp on this tournament….Of all the teams coming in, I think these guys really have something to prove to the fans and they want to prove that they belong in the finals…..
It would be a major upset if any of the other teams can play within 15 pts of GDS. If Northeast gets hot from the 3 pt line or another team has guards fast enough to dribble into the gaps and finish, then someone can challenge GDS. The GDS bestest problem is their lack of speed at the guard positions.
On the girls side, it is truely a mixed tournament. Since Paris is hurt with Page, I think any 1 of 3 teams can win the tournament (Northwest, Page or Northern). It will also be interesting to see if the GDS girls can final win a game or two in this tournament. One of their main players is hurt but their first 4 or 5 girls can compete and should at least make the Northern game closer than some would expect.
Is the Oak Ridge Tournament still on? I know round 1 was tonight….IF THEY DIDN’T CANCEL IT
Maybe its me but Im just not impressed with GDS. They will win this tournament but look at the competition. I wont bash the players on there squad. However, I see average players on an average team.
The fact that “justafan” sees the GDS boys as an unimpressive team shows where boys basketball is in this area with the public schools. The public schools have lost most of its talent to the private schools. GDS is by far better than any public high school in Guilford or Forsyth but they are likely the #3 or #4 private team in the triad. Oak Ridge is significantly better than any school (private or public), Westchester (even with losing their best player) is better than GDS and HP Christain and HPW are not too far behind GDS but ahead of any of the public schools in the triad.
There are only a few boys and girls teams worth seeing locally that have players that can compete against the highest levels:
Boys – Oak Ridge, Westchester, GDS (if they had good guard play), HP Christain & possibly Dudley on a good day.
Girls – Oak Ridge, Dudley, Page (will need Paris back first), Northern (if their guard players improve).
Smith has been under-estimated for so long i have been at all of there conference games and those Boys PUT IN WORK. Yea i may just now see what talent they have but Im putting money on Smith For The Game Tomorrow against Ragsdale. Smith’s Starting line-up aint no joke.!!
Give Smith The Credit They Deserve.!
GDS is very young, especially at guard play. Most of their guards are sophs and jrs. They are vastly improved at the post. Play devastating defense, and in my opinion that is where you win championships. Public school basketball in Guilford County is down. Smith is probably the most athletic team within our local public schools. Most of your better players are headed to private schoolsnot only in basketball but other sports as well. Guilford County schools should open the schools up and let kids go where the want like Forsyth County. If you do this it would solve a lot of problems.
I’m not too upset about moving the start date. Too bad if some can’t go, though.
About Dudley, what’s the history behind that? Did they leave to play elsewhere?
I hope one of the public schools upsets GDS (sorry), I remember attending when it was the Little Four–all public schools. I guess times have changed.
Since GCS is in charge, the public school teams were not allowed to practice yesterday. I wonder if Greensboro Day has been practicing..
Good morning Greensboro Sports.com the News @Record printed the girls field for the tournment,gone from the Page team 3 great player yes but to print returning Paris Kea,Kayla Johnson,Imani Atkinson true 3 players needed to the team which give Page a nice run to a championship,but to leave out senior Britttany Drew,Olivia Seegar,D.Whitsett and cast H.Pegram,C.Coleman,A.Osteen,A.Smith off this printing, look at no.1 Northwest Guilford’s returning key players? Page need the respect just the same, if the writer doesn’tknow visit Page and coach Jones,to get the facts right good luck to all the teams involved and GO PIRATES!
I understand that some of the GCS teams went to other facilities to practice. This is a nother example of GCS having to many rules. My dad taught me a long time ago that common sense will carry you a long way in this world. Gcs should use common sense. I hope GDS practiced yesterday. The roads were fine.
One of the keys for the Page girls is the fact that Kea is still out with the broken wrist and without Drew, the Page girls would have trouble getting out of the first round….No disrespect to the other players, but it is just a point to prove how important Drew is to that team….Her outside shot is the top option for the Lady Pirates….If it is going they are going on to Round Two and for Olivia, she might be one of the top role players in town….She doesn’t look to score, she does the dirty work and doesn’t mind not being in the limelight….She’ll take a bump on the head for the home team any day of the week…Good kid and they all are, Hannah Pegram, Aleta Smith, Chelsey Coleman, Miss Osteen, Miss Whitsett…They all are important parts of the Pirates along with all of the others the paper mentioned….Coleman can be another big key for the Pirates, if #50 is able to get those offensive rebounds and give her team those second chances…..Drew should be All-Tournament even if Page does not go all the way….#15 has earned her spot and if she comes out hot, it could mean a lot to the Lady Pirates….
The player that I will miss the most might just be Portia Oakley….It was like going to, or watching a track meet every night that kid came out on the court….Chevena Pickard is another that was a big part of what the Pirates did in the past and now she is doing a super job over at Greensboro College….
WELL GDS THAT CUPCAKE TURN OUT TO BE POUNDCAKE.SO THAT MEANS DRINK MORE MILK BEFORE YOU CHOKE AGAIN.