Basketball season is warming up, and Heritage teams are looking promising.

While the teams have competed in tournaments to start the season, they are looking forward to home games and are setting their sights on the conference and state tournaments.

“I can’t wait to catch a lob in the War Eagle Arena,” said Braxton Wachholtz (12), referring affectionately to the RHHS gymnasium.

Tocarra Neal (12) has her focus on returning to the state tournament.

“We hope to accomplish winning state,” Neal said. “We have a lot of good players and very skilled attributes this year.”

In their recent tournaments at the start of December, both the boys and girls teams had strong wins with Ben Manuel (12) scoring 27 points at Lafayette of Rockwood, Missouri, and Sophie Sarratt (12) averaging 19.3 points for the girls team during the Great 8 tournament.

With talented rosters of returning and new players, both teams are sure to be competitive in their division. They have a solid mix of shooters and ball handlers that will help them spread the floor and create offensive opportunities.

So far the Heritage basketball teams have had mostly success in this year’s games. They hope to have continuous success throughout the season.

“We’re not playing to finish second,” said Tom Olsen, the boys’ head coach. “We’re always optimistic when we get a chance to start a new season. We want to get in the state tournament then springboard from that.”

The Lady War Eagles are hoping to return to the state tournament, and the boys are hoping to qualify for state and to again show dominance over the Mounties.

“Our biggest opponent is Rogers, and we’re hoping to sweep them again like we did last year,” Wachholtz said.

The varsity boys play next against Webb City at home on Dec. 12. Both teams will take on Bentonville High at home on Dec. 21.