BY MATT VINES, Red River Parish Journal

EAST POINT – The Riverdale girls and boys basketball teams now know their paths through the MAIS playoffs as the Rebels prepare to host the Class 2A South Tournament this coming week.

The Lady Rebels (20-3) earned the No. 1 seed on their side of the eight-team bracket as they draw No. 4 seed Tensas Academy on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

The Rebels (8-11) will be the No. 3 seed on their side of the eight-team bracket as they begin play Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. against No. 2 seed Wilkinson County Christian Academy (6-15).

Seeds are earned by a team’s finish in district play.

It’s the first time Riverdale has hosted an MAIS tournament given that the school is on the extreme western border of a league that spans Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.

“It’s a big honor to host this tournament,” said Riverdale boys and girls coach Trey Pittman, who is in his first season back at the school after leading the girls successfully for three years in the early 2000s. “They usually like to keep this tournament centrally located, so we’ll need all our fans and students to show up.

“We’ll need to win our first-round matchup to advance to the state tournament the following week at Delta Academy.

While the focus will be to win the entire Class 2A tournament, a first-round win will allow the teams to continue their season in the MAIS overall tournament, which combines all classes. That tournament takes place next week.

The girls enter the playoffs having won 12 of their last 13 games. The lone loss came this past week in a one-point heartbreaker to West Side Christian (Ark.), but the Lady Rebels rebounded with three wins, two of which came by at least 50 points (Union Christian and Louisiana School).

The boys got a shot in the arm with a win Saturday, topping Louisiana School 56-21.

The Rebels had been on a four-game slide, including a loss to a Union Christian team that they had beaten by 37 points a week prior.

A first-round win means that teams advance to play in the semifinals Friday evening with the championship game Saturday.

The Lady Rebels would play the winner of Tallulah Academy and Claiborne Academy in the semifinals.

The Rebels would play the winner of Claiborne Academy and Tensas Academy in the semifinals.