Hosts Russellville and Logan County will play on their home courts the first two days of the annual First Southern National Bank Christmas Classic, beginning Thursday. The Cougar boys and Lady Panther girls are guaranteed to play at home all three days.
The first host team to hit the floor will be Coach Dedra Adler’s Lady Panthers, who will take on Hopkins County Central at 5:30 Thursday. RHS is on a roll, having won three of its last four games and finishing second in the Trigg County tournament last week. After losing by two points to a Lone Oak team which went undefeated in the round robin format, the Lady Panthers beat Trigg County 59-32 and Heath 69-66. RHS is 4-5 on the season. Their opponent, Hopkins Central, is 2-10. The Lady Storm also beat winless Trigg (74-39) and they won their last game over Crittenden County. Russellville is led by senior point guard Amber Sydnor and junior post player Kahlia Hampton.
In Russellville’s bracket, Carlisle County of the 1st Region (4-5) plays Owsley County of the 14th Region (2-6) at 2 p.m. The game had been scheduled earlier Thursday, but Tournament Director Holli Brown moved it later to allow Carlisle more time to deal with the heavy snow in the western part of the state.
The Logan County Lady Cougars play their tournament opener at home at 6 p.m. Thursday against Louisville Iroquois (3-6). The Lady Raiders are led by junior guard Elizabeth Pryor, who averaged 16 points in the first three games of the season, Tiffany Brown was in double figures in two of those games, the only ones which the team has reported. Coach Scot MacAllister’s Lady Cougars were 2-7 before their game Saturday at West Creek in the Clarksville area. Junior Laura Hunt and sophomore Maegann Hardison, both guards, usually lead the Lady Cougars in scoring with help from post players, Kaprechia Powell, a sophomore, and junior Katelyn Jones.
In Logan’s bracket, Caverna plays the Aussie Traveling Team at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. The Lady Colonels have the distinction of being the only team in the girls bracket with a winning record. Coach Cornelius Faulkner’s team is 8-4 after winning four straight games, including the championship of their own tournament. Those wins came against Warren Central in the regular season and over Fort Knox, Edmonson County and McCreary County in the tournament.
The first game of the tournament will match the two boys teams with the best records, Louisville Doss (7-3) and Spring Hill, Tenn. (6-1) will play at 11 a.m. at RHS. Doss, coached by Kentreal Goodin, has won six straight games including the championship of the Capital City Invitational in Frankfort with wins over Lexington Tates Creek, Campbell County and LaRue County. Spring Hill has dominated the area between Franklin and Columbia in Tennessee.
The Russellville Panthers’ first game will be at 7 p.m. against South Warren (5-5). Coach Phil Todd’s team (5-6) went 1-2 in a tournament at Ohio County last week. They beat Butler County 79-51 in the third game after close losses to Breckinridge County and Henderson County. South Warren’s Derrick Clubb has seniors Luke Easley, Cedric Gumm and Travis Hardcastle on the squad. One of the big men is sophomore Kevin Birdwhistell, the son of former Cougar Joe Birdwhistell, a member of Logan County’s 1987 regional finalist team.
The Cougars (3-7) enter their first FSNB Classic under new coach Lonnie Mason by playing Coach Daniel Kukahiko’s Caldwell County team (2-8). Tiger seniors are Taylor Cummins, Jacob Haberlock, Jesse Oliver, Martez Sivils and Hayden Stewart. Logan is led by senior guard Torin Graham and sophomore forward Ben Wright. The game will be at 8 p.m. at LCHS.
In the Cougars’ bracket are University Heights Academy (0-7) against Aussie Basketball. They will play at 1 p.m. Thursday at LCHS.
Friday will be filled with games in both gyms. All four host teams will play in their home gyms. On Saturday all four girls games will be played at RHS with the championship game at 6 p.m. All the boys games will be at LCHS. The championship game will begin at 7.