As the 8th District girls’ tournament gets underway Tuesday, the question looms, will Christian County and Hopkinsville make it eight straight appearances in the championship game for the two crosstown rivals? The girls’ tourney gets underway Tuesday evening at Christian County High School.
The last time the 8th District championship game was not a battle between the Lady Colonels and the Lady Tigers was in 2015 when University Heights won the last of three straight district championships.
It has been an even longer drought for the Fort Campbell Lady Falcons, who last won an opening-round game in the 8th District tournament back in 2005 when they upended Hopkinsville 34-30.
The first game Tuesday night at 6:00 will find the top-seeded Christian County Lady Colonels taking on Fort Campbell. While the Lady Colonels have seen their ups and downs this season, they have rolled unbeaten through district play. In their two matchups against the Lady Falcons, the Lady Colonels have won by a combined total of 99 points.
This would appear to be an extremely large challenge for the Lady Falcons, who have only hit the 30-point mark once since the beginning of 2023. The Lady Falcons have two solid contributors in Rosella Rajj and Charlize Cruz, but the Lady Colonels, simply by pure numbers, are deeper and like to get up and down the court, the type of game which the Lady Falcons cannot afford to get into.
Christian County enters the tournament at 13-13, having won 5 of their last seven games. Fort Campbell comes in at 2-19. Both of the Lady Falcon wins were against Cloverport.
The second matchup Tuesday night will find the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers taking on the UHA Lady Blazers.
The two teams met less than a week ago with Hopkinsville taking a 72-58 win over the Lady Blazers. However, the game was a battle down into the fourth quarter until the issue that has hounded the Lady Blazers all season long reared its ugly head. That issue being no depth.
At most this season, the Lady Blazers have dressed seven players. Coming down over the final two weeks of the season, that number was at six available players. If you look back at the last weeks of the season, there are several games where the Lady Blazers were in the thick of it well into the second half, only to run out of gas late. If Coach Derrick Hickman can find a way to give his team some extra legs, this one could be interesting right down to the wire.
UHA has two of the top players in the district with Alicia Davis and Lee Lee Love. Amaryia Bass, Kenady Quarles, and Naharri Hoosier have all given indication that they can step up with a big game just about any night.
The Lady Tigers had their struggles during the middle of the season, but appear to be playing better coming down the stretch. Hopkinsville exhibited its potential earlier in the season as the Lady Tigers took Webster County into overtime in Dixon before falling to the Lady Trojans.
The loss of senior Faith Dansbury back before Christmas has been a big loss for the Lady Tigers. Since that injury, Kahtahvia Fleming and TaRia Sharber have led the way for the Lady Tigers.
UHA enters the tournament at 5-22. Hopkinsville comes in with a record of 7-13.
Tuesday night’s winners will play Thursday night in the girls’ title game.
