If the weather allows, three teams from the Land of Logan will be part of two nights of intense basketball Friday and Saturday. In fact, two of them will be part of a four-game schedule at Diddle Arena Saturday.
Because the Western Kentucky University women have home games tonight at 7 and Saturday at 2 p.m., because Wednesday’s high school games in the Fourth Region Tournament were postponed because of ice and snow, and because Diddle Arena will not be available after Tuesday because of the girls high school state tournament running Wednesday through Saturday there, regional tournament officials are having to scramble to get all the boys and girls high school games played on time.
So far, only 4 of the 14 regional tournament games have been played.
The plan is to have three regional games on both days. The Lady Toppers’ afternoon game with old rival Old Dominion makes Saturday’s schedule even more ambitious.
Coach Lonnie Mason’s Logan County Cougars will start Friday’s tripleheader by taking on Barren County at 5:30 p.m. All boys games are still tournament openers.
The only boys game not scheduled for Friday matches the Russellville Panthers against Monroe County at 9 p.m. Saturday. The boys semifinals will be Monday night. LCHS would play at 6 p.m. and Coach Phil Todd’s Panthers at 8. The championship game is scheduled for Tuesday at 6.
The Panthers’ Saturday game will follow a doubleheader involving four regional powers who were winners in games that weren’t close Monday and Tuesday. Coach Finley Baird’s Lady Cougars (21-9) will go against Bowling Green High (25-7) at 5:30. South Warren (25-5) will take on regional favorite Allen County-Scottsville (25-4) afterwards. Those four teams are 96-25.
Clearing out the gym and cleaning it will be a monumental task for WKU’s athletic, marketing and maintenance departments. Almost 30 years ago when Old Dominion came to Diddle Arena to play Coach Paul Sanderford’s eventual Final Four team (featuring Lillie Mason, Clemette Haskins, Kami Thomas and Melinda Carlson), over 12,000 people crowded into the gym to watch two teams which had been in the Final Four the previous year. Diddle only seats about half that many people now, but Coach Michelle Clark-Heard’s team is so good that the crowd should be large. And college games last longer than do high school games.
The girls championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday. A girls champion obviously has to be crowned before the state tournament starts Wednesday. The boys Sweet Sixteen won’t be held until the following week at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
If weather delays any more nights or days of high school basketball, the use of one or more high school gyms will be necessitated.