Mid-district week
Three days down and three to go in district week, and there’s nothing much to get worked up about. (But please, keep reading anyway.)
The district semifinals are all about shock value. You scan lists of scores to see which regional contenders got sent packing earlier than expected. That said, nothing has happened in the 12th Region so far that qualifies as a surprise.
With one exception, all of the qualifiers are in place for next week’s 12th Region Tournaments. Here’s who’s in:
Girls
45th District: Boyle County, Lincoln County
46th District: East Jessamine, Mercer County
47th District: Casey County, Rockcastle County
48th District: Southwestern, Wayne County
Boys
45th District: Boyle County, Lincoln County
46th District: East Jessamine, West Jessamine
47th District: Pulaski County, Somerset
48th District: Southwestern
The only remaining semifinal is one of the most intriguing, Thursday’s game in the boys 48th between McCreary Central and Wayne County.
So far, the game that has raised the most eyebrows was in the boys 47th, where Pulaski County beat Rockcastle County Tuesday night on a 3-point goal by Caleb Rowe with 3 seconds remaining. The Maroons were expected to win by much more, because they were coming off a regular-season finale in which they kicked Boyle County around and were playing a Rockcastle team that had really struggled this season.
On the north end of the region, East Jessamine’s boys beat Mercer County and its girls beat Burgin in games in the 46th that could have gone either way. And in the girls 45th, Lincoln County beat Garrard County to become the only lower seed to win so far, but that was another game that looked like a toss-up.
Three girls champions will be crowned Thursday night when title games are played in the 45th, 46th and 47th. The girls 48th final is Friday night, along with boys finals in the 45th, 46th and 47th. And the week ends with the boys 48th final Saturday night.
Regional tournament pairings will be drawn Saturday for the girls tournament at Pulaski and Sunday for the boys tourney at Lincoln. And remember that the girls regional starts first this year, with first-round games Monday and Tuesday nights.
