Pairings aren’t yet set for next week’s 13th District Basketball Tournament at Franklin-Simpson High School, but both Russellville teams and both Franklin teams know when they will play. The three and four seeds in both the boys and girls brackets are not yet determined.
Franklin will be the top seed in the girls bracket with a 5-1 record. Coach Ryan Davenport’s Lady Panthers will be in the 2-3 slot because they are 3-3 in the district with two wins over Logan County and a split with Todd Central.
The Lady Cougars can earn the third seed Wednesday night by winning at Todd Central. Currently, Todd is 2-3 in the district, after splitting with Russellville and Franklin-Simpson. But if Coach Dedra Adler’s Logan girls sweep the Lady Rebels, both teams will have 2-4 district records, and LCHS will hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The top of the boys bracket is set with 6-0 Franklin-Simpson number one and Coach Carlos Quarles’ 4-2 Russellville second.
Wednesday’s LCHS-at-Todd Central boys game also will play a big seeding role, similar to the girls. The difference is if the records are tied after this game, a coin flip or something similar will be used to determine who is third.
Coach Nathan Thompson’s Cougars are 1-4 in the district and Coach Dennis Pardue’s Rebels 0-5. The Cougars won with ease the first time they met. Both teams have improved since then.
WRUS will broadcast the doubleheader at Elkton Wednesday.
Franklin-Simpson Athletic Director Matthew Wilhite has announced the tournament schedule. There are two big differences from most years. First, all games will be solo. There will be no doubleheaders. Second, the tournament starts Sunday afternoon. There have been regional games on Sundays, but no district tournament games over the past 65 years or more.
Logan County Athletic Director Greg Howard says the one-game-a-day format was adopted to reduce chances of spreading COVID-19 so that later tournaments will not have to be shut down, as they were last year. The district tournament will last six days instead of the traditional four.
The pairings—according to seedings—are as follows:
Sunday 4:00 pm Boys 1 and 4
Monday 7:00 Boys 2 and 3
Tuesday 7:00 Girls 1 and 4
Wednesday 7:00 Girls 2 and 3
Thursday 7:00 Boys Championship
Friday 7:00 Girls Championship