District Tournament Previews: 2nd Region
The postseason is finally upon us and the Road to Rupp Arena starts this week. The amount of schools in the postseason will be cut down to 128 once the district rounds are complete. Only district champions and runners-up move on to regional tournaments and there are sure to be several upsets this week. As we continue with our postseason previews, we move to the Second region where this is the first time in several years that Christian County or Hopkinsville hasn’t been an overwhelming favorite to win the region. Here’s a district by district breakdown of the district match-ups:
5th District (Games Played at Crittenden County):
Monday is a double header in the 5th. Crittenden hosts Livingston Central in the first game. Livingston surprisingly won 17 games this season including beating Crittenden by double figures twice already. Crittenden finished tied for last in the region with only 5 wins this season. There is little reason to expect them to get a 6th win in the postseason.
The second game on Monday is a tilt between Lyon County and Trigg County. They split the two regular season games as Trigg won by one in December before Lyon won the rematch last month. The winner of the rubber match will make it to the regional tournament.
6th District (Games played at Henderson County):
The 6th is a 3 team district so regular season champion Henderson advances to the championship game by default. Union County and Webster County will square off on Tuesday for the right to advance to the regional. Webster won the first contest with Union by a point in OT. The second game was won by Union by 8. This particular semifinal is likely to be one of the more competitive games in Western Kentucky.
7th District (Games played at Caldwell County):
Tuesday night starts with Dawson Springs taking on top seeded Madisonville-North Hopkins. Madisonville has won the first two contests against Dawson Springs by 25 or more each time and this third game is likely to go the same way.
The second game of the night will be host Caldwell County taking on Hopkins County Central. HCC won the first game against Caldwell by 17 but the Tigers bounced back and beat Hopkins Central by 3 in the second meeting. Potential for a high scoring competitive game in this one.
8th District (Games played at Christian County):
Monday night Christian County will host Fort Campbell in their third contest of the year. Christian won the two meetings by 42 and 41 points earlier this year and the third game should go the same way.
Tuesday night will be one of the more highly anticipated games across the state. University Heights and Hopkinsville meet in one of the more electric rivalries in Kentucky. UHA won the first two matchups of the season but Hoptown is finally at full strength. It’s sure to be a packed house at Christian County for this one.
Predictions:
Champions: Livingston Central, Henderson County, Madisonville-North Hopkins, Christian County
Runners-Up: Trigg County, Webster County, Caldwell County, Hopkinsville