Harris County girls basketball prepares for Crescom Holiday Invitational

For the second straight year, the Harris County Lady Tigers will take a trip to the beach before Christmas. Of course, this trip will include plenty of basketball, too.

Harris County will once again participate in the Crescom Bank Holiday Invitational, a five-day tournament held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. This year’s event includes 16 teams from eight states. Harris County will begin play against Fayette County (Fayetteville, Ga.) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers enter the tournament with a 6-0 record, something that will be put the test over the course of at least three games. The Lady Tigers came into last year’s invitational undefeated and learned how dangerous the tournament is in their first game. Harris County faced a Lake Highland Prep (Orlando, Fla.) team led by former NBA player Grant Hill’s daughter Myla and lost 61-46.

This time, Harris County head coach Steffanie Ramsey and her players understand the level of competition that will be waiting for them.

“Last year was an eye opener. We didn’t know what to expect,” Ramsey said. “It’s going to test us to see how good we really are.”

As valuable as the basketball will be, there are a number of other activities the tournament will provide Ramsey and her girls. Along with lodging on the beach and complimentary meals courtesy the invitational, there are coaches socials and free tickets to the local aquarium.

Basketball may be the primary reason for the trip, but Ramsey couldn’t overstate how important every piece of the puzzle will be.

“It’s big for my team,” Ramsey said. “A lot of them don’t get that exposure and don’t get to go to the beach or things of that sort. It’s a great bonding opportunity. All week, the girls have been saying, ‘Man, it’s taking forever for us to leave.’ ”

The Lady Tigers finally will depart Monday for South Carolina in hopes of putting together a productive tournament. Harris County already has shown itself to be a team to watch in Class 5A, averaging just under 75 points per game.

If the team can duplicate those numbers against some of the top talent in the country, the Lady Tigers may have to clear some room in their trophy case.

“We’re going to head out and try to bring home some hardware,” Ramsey said.

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Harris County girls basketball prepares for Crescom Holiday Invitational."