The Crittenden County Lady Rockets have won eight district titles in program history but have never won three straight. They look to change that on Monday when the 5th District Tournament begins at Lyon County High School.
The Lady Rockets (18-12) are the No. 2 seed and will play No. 3 seed Livingston Central (13-10) at 7:30 on Monday night.
The teams split their regular season games with Livingston Central winning 52-49 in overtime on Dec. 1 in Smithland. Crittenden returned the favor with a 72-48 win in Marion on Jan. 22.
Crittenden County enters the postseason winners of six of its last eight games. The Lady Rockets’ roster doesn’t have any seniors or juniors for veteran coach Shannon Hodge, who passed 400 career wins this month in her 31st season as skipper.
Sophomore Anna Boone leads the Lady Rockets in scoring at 22 points a game. She passed 1,000 career points at the All A Classic State Tournament last month.
Sophomore Elliot Evans averages 9.8 points while shooting 42 percent from the field.
The emergence of eighth grader Jordyn Hodge at the point has allowed her mother and coach to move Boone to the wing and gives her more scoring options both inside and out.
Hodge has scored in double figures in her last five games, averaging 13 points during that time.
Livingston Central enters Monday’s openers as winners of four of its last five games.
The Lady Cardinals are led by Victoria Joiner, who averages 12 points and 11 rebounds, passing 1,000 career rebounds last week.
Maggie Downey and Emersyn Ramage both score eight points a game with Ramage pulling down 10 boards.
Like Crittenden County, the Lady Cardinals have no seniors on their roster.
Crittenden County won back-to-back district titles in 2017 and 2018 and has cut the nets down the past two seasons.
Livingston Central is looking to win the school’s first district title since 2014 – the last of three straight championships.
In the 6:00 opener, host and top seed Lyon County (19-9) will play No. 4 seed Trigg County (3-24).
The Lady Lyons cruised to wins over Trigg by scores of 73-28 and 64-26.
Lyon is led by a pair of freshmen – Piper Cotham at 18 points a game and Trinity Taylor at 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Lady Lyons will likely be without freshman Courtney Collins, who scored nine points a game and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. She suffered an ankle injury earlier in the month.
Senior Lexi Holland adds nearly 10 points a game for the Lady Lyons.
Trigg County, meanwhile, carries a 16-game losing streak into Monday’s opener. The Lady Wildcats are hoping a nine-day layoff has allowed them to get healthy and prepared for the postseason.
Eighth grader A.J. Navarro leads Trigg in scoring at eight points a game while fellow eighth grader Veyda Grinols is tops at seven boards a contest.
Senior Evonna McGee averages seven points and Reese Bush scores six.
The key to this game will be Trigg’s ability to take care of the basketball against the Lyon County defense. Lyon has combined to score 88 points off 64 Trigg turnovers in the two wins while holding the Lady Wildcats to 27 percent shooting.
The championship game is set for Thursday night at 6:00.
All tickets will be sold on GoFan. Adult prices are $8.50 and student prices are $6.00. Coaches cards and Official Cards are the only passes that will be accepted.
For the 27th straight year, WKDZ 100.9 FM will be broadcasting the entire tournament. The games will also be streamed at wkdzradio.com.
