All of that preliminary stuff called the regular season is in the books for basketball coaches in District 6-AA.
It’s time for the post-season and it all begins Wednesday night. Play-in games will be held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at higher seeded teams before the tournament moves to Hixson for the semifinals on Saturday.
Both consolation games will be on Monday with the championship contests on Tuesday. Game times are 6 and 7:30.
Tyner and Brainerd split regular season games with each other as both were 11-1 in district games, but the Rams were granted the top seed for the boys while the Panthers are second. Howard is third and East Ridge fourth, followed by Central, Hixson and Red Bank.
The Red Bank and Tyner girls both split with each other, but the Lionettes are seeded first with a 10-2 district record and the Lady Rams second at 9-3. Central is third and Brainerd fourth while Howard, East Ridge and Hixson follow.
“I’ve been the coach at Red Bank for three years now and we’ve gone from last place to first in that time,” said Red Bank girls coach Bailey McGinnis, who was voted as the Girls Coach of the Year.
“That says a lot about our girls and how hard they’ve worked, but we can’t take that for granted. There are times when it’s hard to stay focused, but we definitely have a target on our back and we have to remember that every possession counts. Little things matter at this point.
“We’ll just play it one game at a time and see what happens,” McGinnis added, her team now 15-9 overall.
Tyner’s Lady Rams enter tournament play with an overall record of 12-13. That is somewhat misleading as the Lady Rams are better than that, but coach Katrich Williams knows that there are days when her girls just aren’t ready to compete.
“Good solid defense is what we depend on, but it’s a matter of confidence at this point,” Williams said Tuesday following lunch at the Golden Corral on Gunbarrel Road.
“This tournament is open to which team wants it the most, but we just have to step up and be ready to play. Our main goal was to be seeded either first or second to get a first-round bye, but we just want to keep playing. It should be interesting,” she added.
Brainerd’s boys beat Tyner at the Best of Preps tournament in December before Tyner won by a dozen at Brainerd in the first regular-season meeting. The Panthers then went to Tyner last Friday and beat the Rams in double overtime, so who’s to say which team is the best at this point.
“We came up a little short last year and we’ve been focusing on that all season,” said Tyner coach Keitha Booker, the Boys Coach of the Year whose team is now 22-3 overall.
“Defense is what we’re made of and we just hope to take that to the next level now we’re in the post-season. We are the target for everyone this year, but we just want to keep winning and advance. Everyone gets up to play us, but we’re ready for the challenge.
“If we’ll just play Tyner basketball, everything else will fall into place and we’ll have a good shot of winning,” Booker concluded.
Brainerd had an outstanding season a year ago and finished second in the state. Coach Levar Brown would like nothing more than a repeat a year later.
“If we play like we’re capable, we could win this tournament,” Brown began when asked about the gathering at Hixson later this week.
“We’re pretty confident, but we’ve had some guys sick with the flu we have to get back, but I’m hoping we’ll be okay. That win at Tyner on Friday was huge, but we just have to keep rebounding and take good care of the basketball.
“Everybody’s record is the same at this point, but it all starts with the district this week,” he nodded.
Seventh-seed Hixson plays at sixth-seed East Ridge to begin the girls portion on Wednesday at 6 while number-seven Red Bank boys play at number-six Hixson Thursday at 7. Fifth-seed Central’s boys go to number-four East Ridge on Thursday at 8 while the Howard girls will go to Brainerd on Thursday at 7.
Red Bank’s girls face the Brainerd-Howard winner in the first semifinal at Hixson on Saturday at 1 while the Tyner boys take on the Central-East Ridge winner on Saturday at 2:30.
Third-seeded Howard takes on the Hixson-Red Bank boys winner at Howard on Friday at 7 with that winner facing Brainerd’s boys on Saturday at 5:30.
Central’s third-seeded girls will host the East Ridge-Hixson winner on Thursday at 7 with the winner taking on Tyner on Saturday at 4.
Both consolation games will be played on Monday at 6 and 7:30 with the championship games at the same times on Tuesday, all at Hixson.
GIRLS ALL-DISTRICT TEAM:
Hixson: Madison Jett
Howard: DeShayla Price, Milijah Williams
Brainerd: Kenisha Price, Rykiedra Finley
East Ridge: Rickell Hill, Jayla Stone
Central: Miracle Miller, Alivia Smith
Tyner: Keniah Watkins, LeAundra Melton, Alise Bedford
Red Bank: Shelby Romans, Layla Babb, Mya Kennebrew
Coach of the Year: Red Bank’s Bailey McGinnis.
BOYS ALL-DISTRICT TEAM:
Red Bank: Tory Sewell
Howard: Marquez Williams, Calvin Johnson
Hixson: Braven Horton, Jamvis Ponder
East Ridge: Elijah Garmany, Marquis Hinton
Central: McClendon Curtis, Brett Abshire
Brainerd: Kentrell Evans, Jessie Walker, Demba Sow
Tyner: Kevin Cameron, KeMarkus Young, Jerrion Christopher
Coach of the Year: Tyner’s Keitha Booker.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)