It’s been a long time since the Keith girls’ basketball roster didn’t include Harriet Winchester and Zykia Pettway, but that’ll be the case Friday when the Bears open their summer with a play date at Keith High School.

The Bears will host a four team play date that will also include Wilcox Central, R.C. Hatch and Selma. Keith has made it to Birmingham for the class 1A finals three of the last four years, but will have to replace the scoring voids left by Winchester and Pettway.

Keith has almost been moved up to 2A this year.

“It’s an opportunity for us to play quality competition without having to get up and drive without having to leave the confines of home,” said Keith athletic director Tommy Tisdale. “It gives everybody a chance to try to get better.”

Each team in the play date will play three games, with one against every other team in the field.

Keith will kick off the tournament at 10 a.m. with a game against Wilcox Central. Selma and Keith, two Dallas County rivals, will play at 12:15 p.m.

“Everybody can play and everybody has had success so it’s probably going to be one of the more competitive play dates that they can go to to find this many challenging teams in the same area,” Tisdale said.