Battle for 7-AAA title begins Monday night
The challenge is set. The options are clear.
Win, and you move on. Lose, and your season is over.
Both Warren County basketball teams will face those options this week, when the District 7-AAA basketball tournament begins in Sparta.
The Lady Pioneers, as well as their counterparts on the Pioneer boys team, will face first-round opponents who swept them in the regular season. Warren County’s girls open up with Cookeville in a Monday night contest, while the Pioneers take on top-seeded Riverdale Tuesday afternoon.
Finishing a winless 0-14 in league play during the 2003-04 season, Pioneer coach Chris Turner said he hopes his squad looks at the tournament as a chance to start fresh, rather than focussing on their No. 8 seeding.
“That’s the only way we can look at it,” Turner said. “You have to go into it looking at everyone as being 0-0, and you have to have a good attitude.
“You can’t worry about records, you just go out and play basketball and try to improve every day. You can’t give up. If some of them have (given up) already, we don’t have a chance. But if they don’t give up, there’s always a chance.”
The Pioneers suffered two of their toughest losses of the year at the hands of the Warriors, who went through the regular district season with a 12-2 record. On Dec. 5 in Murfreesboro, Riverdale handed the Pioneers an 82-50 loss after Warren County scored the game’s first eight points. Later in the season at the Charlie Dalton Gym, the Warriors won 83-48 behind a 22-point night from LaBrian Lyons.
Turner said his team, which has lost its last eight straight while allowing almost 70 points per game, has to concentrate on defense to have a hope of upsetting the Warriors.
“Right now we can’t guard anybody, that’s obvious, man or zone,” he said. “We’ve got to be students of the game this week, and how well we study Riverdale will determine how well we can play against them.
“In my opinion, I do feel we can match up and play against them. It just depends on how serious these kids are about approaching the ballgame, and the game plan.”
While the Lady Pioneers finished with the district’s sixth seed, on the strength of their 6-8 league record, their first-round foe was responsible for two of those losses.
The Lady Cavaliers of Cookeville handed coach Ann Eades’ team a 51-39 setback at home back in January, and took advantage of the Lady Pioneers’ poorest shooting night of the season to win 49-32 on Feb. 6.
“I think right now we’ve got a lot of confidence,” said Eades, whose Lady Pioneers closed their regular season with a four-game winning streak. “It’s on a neutral floor, and there’s no reason we can’t match up and play with Cookeville.
“Every possession down the floor is big for us, and the thing that concerns me is it may be mental with this ball team. But we’re going to be working on that these next four days.”
Stopping the Lady Cavs will mean accomplishing two tasks: Defending Cara Reed, who posted double-doubles in both meetings with WCHS, and finding a way to play up-tempo against a squad known for its methodical offensive style.
Eades said she’s confident her team will be able to play hard, and hopes they’ll ride the momentum they picked up over the final weeks of the season into Monday night’s matchup.
“We’re very excited right now, and I just can’t say enough about how hard this ball team has worked and gelled together,” Eades said. “We’re injury free, and that’s great, and hopefully we can go against Cookeville Monday night a healthy and confident ball club.
“They’ve got a lot of confidence, they’re in a good frame of mind right now, and we’re looking forward to the trip.”
District 7-AAA Tournament
at White County High School
Monday: WCHS girls vs. Cookeville, 7 p.m.
Tuesday: WCHS boys vs. Riverdale, 4 p.m.