The previous 810 Varsity Showcase featured two of the top teams in Missouri.

The final 810 Varsity Showcase of the year will feature two of the teams in the Metro – and in Missouri and Kansas.

810 Varsity Showcase 27 boasts a full eight-game, one-day event, this Saturday, February 5 at Lee’s Summit West. The event will be the final of the four showcases held during the 2021-22 season.

Among the list of games will be No. 2 Free State vs No. 3 Lee’s Summit, as ranked in the 810 Varsity Top 25 in the Metro. The Firebirds are the No. 1 team in Kansas Class 6A, while the Tigers are in Missouri Class 6’s top 5.

If anything, the matchup may be good luck for Free State, as Lee’s Summit has faced the Kansas Class 6A state champion in the 810 Varsity Showcase in 2016, an 80-76 win over Shawnee Mission North, and last year, a 54-44 loss to Blue Valley North.

The Tigers (17-1) and Firebirds (11-0) face off at 5:30 pm.

“We’d like to flip that and have Free State be playing the Missouri state champ,” said Blake Little. “We’ve had some great opponents in the 810 games, and Free State will be another. But we will be for them too.”

The rest of the day will have flavors for everyone as well. The day opens at 10 am with two perennial girls powers in Truman and Piper, though the Pirates are having a down year by their standards and amid a stretch of five games in seven days.

Following the opener will be Lincoln Prep vs Barstow, then No. 3 Grain Valley against No. 13 Blue Springs. Grain Valley of course features Mizzou commit and perhaps the favorite to win the city's Player of the Year award in junior Grace Slaughter, who just set the Eagles career scoring mark going over the 1,750-point mark. Slaughter is firing in a ridiculous 33 ppg.

Another one of the area's top girls will play right after, as Oklahoma commit Beatrice Culliton and No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas follows vs Lincoln Prep at 2:30 pm, then Raytown South takes on Blue Valley North. The two faced off in the 810 Varsity Showcase in 2021, with the Cardinals outlasting the Mustangs, 76-72 in two overtimes at Avila. Both teams went onto the state semifinals before the tourney's were called due to COVID.

The two night games will tip with Lee's Summit West girls taking on Blue Valley North, then the Titans boys taking on Park Hill in the finale at 8:30 pm.

810 Varsity Showcase 27
Saturday, February 5
Lee's Summit West HS

10 am: Truman vs Piper (girls)
11:30 am: Barstow vs Lincoln Prep (boys)
1 pm: Blue Springs vs Grain Valley (girls)
2:30 pm: Lincoln Prep vs St. Thomas Aquinas (girls)
4 pm: Raytown South vs Blue Valley North (boys)
5:30 pm: Lee's Summit vs Free State (boys)
7 pm: Lee's Summit West vs Blue Valley North (girls)
8:30 pm: Lee's Summit West vs Park Hill (boys)

TICKET PURCHASE

All-day admission can be purchased online, or at the door with cash or card.

Adults: $7
Students (18U): $5
5 and under: Free