The Fifth District Girls’ Tournament has proven to be one of the more competitive postseason events in the Second Region year in and year out.
Trigg County won the title last year as the No. 3 seed, taking down both Crittenden County and Lyon County. The championship was their first in a decade. If the Lady Wildcats are to repeat as district champs for the first time in school history, their path will likely be a repeat of last year.
Crittenden County tied Trigg County atop the district standings with a 5-1 mark. The Lady Rockets won the top seed through a coin toss.
Lyon County is the host school for the tournament, and Livingston Central is looking to snap a six-year championship drought.
Crittenden County (17-9) opens the tournament Monday with Livingston Central (5-18). Crittenden won both regular season matchups and have won seven straight games against the Lady Cardinals.
Twelve different players scored for Crittenden in their 60-25 win over Livingston on Dec. 30. The Lady Rockets knocked down 19-of-24 free throws in beating Livingston 62-46 on Jan. 31.
Both teams only have one player scoring in double figures for the season. Freshman Taylor Guess leads the Lady Rockets at 17.9 ppg., while junior Lauren Wring scores 17.3 for Livingston. However, Crittenden County has more balance in their scoring which has led to their wins over Livingston. Wring scored in double figures in both games against Crittenden, but no one else did.
Livingston Central carries a nine-game losing streak into Monday’s game, while Crittenden County has alternated wins and losses in their last six games.
In Monday’s 7:30 game, Trigg County and Lyon County will meet for the fourth time this season.
Trigg County (22-8) set a new school record for wins in a season, but a coin toss sent them to the No. 2 seed. No one scores in double figures for the Lady Wildcats, but four players average between 9.0 and 9.8 points a game.
In sweeping the season series from the Lady Lyons, Trigg County used their defense to force turnovers and score in transition.
Rose Smith (13.2) and Cathryn Brown (12.2) lead Lyon County in scoring.
Since a 61-49 win at Lyon County Jan. 28, Trigg County has struggled a bit with a 5-3 record. They are averaging just 43.3 points a game.
While a low scoring game may favor Lyon County (13-16), a close game may favor Trigg. The Lady Lyons are 3-7 in games decided by seven points or less.
Last year, Lyon beat Trigg three times during the season before Trigg turned the tables and won the district title. Lyon will try and duplicate that feat this year.
Monday’s winners will meet in the championship game Thursday at 7pm and advance to the region tournament next week at Christian County.
The entire Fifth District Tournament can be heard on WKDZ 100.9 FM and online at wkdzradio.com.
