Weather headaches hit prep tourneys in Tennessee, Georgia

Today's Playoff Basketball Schedule

Division II girls' state at Lipscomb University Baylor vs. Brentwood Academy, 11Region 3-A at South Pittsburg Boyd-Buchanan girls vs. Silverdale Baptist, 4:30 Arts & Sciences vs. Silverdale Baptist, 6 Van Buren County girls vs. Arts & Sciences, 7:30 Van Buren County vs. Boyd-Buchanan, 9Region 3-AA girls at Loudon Central vs. Sequoyah, 4 Tyner vs. Brainerd, 5:30Region 3-AA boys Sequoyah at Brainerd, 7 Loudon at Central, 7 Red Bank boys at Sweetwater, 7 Hixson at McMinn Central, 7 Region 4-AA at Sequatchie County Notre Dame vs. Cannon County, 7 Bledsoe County vs. Livingston Academy, 8:30Region 3-AAA at Ooltewah Cumberland County girls vs. Cookeville, 4 White County vs. Cookeville, 5:30 Bradley Central girls vs. White Co., 7 Bradley Central vs. Stone Memorial, 8:30 Division II girls' state tournament at Lipscomb University Baylor vs. Brentwood Academy, 11 GHSA Class AAA quarterfinals East Hall girls at Calhoun, 6

More than a week of inclement weather, and threat of more snow approaching the Chattanooga area, has begun to threaten the basketball postseason in Tennessee.

Meanwhile in Georgia, while on the surface the cards seemed to be stacked against the Calhoun Lady Yellow Jackets, Coach Jerry Pruett is a silver-lining kind of guy.

While three of the four semifinalists in the GHSA girls' Class AAA playoffs were decided last night, Pruett's team will have to wait until tonight (with fingers crossed) to play its home quarterfinal game against East Hall. Win there and the plan is to travel to Columbus Friday to play the semifinal game against Beach County.

Then again, if Calhoun wakes up today with the forecasted 5-to-8 inches of snow, the schedule will change again.

"We'll either go tomorrow or Friday," Pruett said before turning optimist. "It's supposed to warm up tomorrow, and we hope it will be good enough to play. It may be better if we play on Friday and Saturday where we won't think about it too much."

Coach Pruett spent a good part of Wednesday re-scouting East Hall and looking ahead to Beach. After a physical battle to get past Washington County on Monday, the coach expects a somewhat different game against East Hall.

"East Hall is a very good outside-shooting team," he said. "They have more scorers than Washington County, though they're not as athletic. They have two kids that have made eight 3s in a game this season, so that tells you they can shoot it. When you watch them you notice they either shoot 3-pointers or get shots right at the basket."

The GHSA might intervene if the game is delayed beyond today, having already moved the Class AA semifinals back to Monday. Though the Calhoun girls are the only team yet to play its quarterfinal game in Class AAA, there are several delayed games on the boys' side.

Tennessee prep basketball teams are in more of a pickle because of the weather as region tournaments that were supposed to continue Tuesday are now two days behind in some cases.

The weather delays became so much of a concern that the TSSAA Board of Control held a conference call to address the issue. In a statewide memo issued by executive director Bernard Childress, the TSSAA announced that the Division I (public schools) girls' sectional games have been pushed back from their originally scheduled play date of Saturday to Monday. The boys' sectionals were also moved back by a day and will be played on Tuesday.

This allows teams in each region tournament to continue playing games, as weather permits, through Sunday as, according to Childress' memo, "all remaining regional tournament games may be scheduled at any time."

The D-II boys' and girls' state tournament will proceed as planned, beginning today. Baylor's girls are the only local team to reach the D-II state semifinals and the Lady Red Raiders will play Brentwood Academy at 11 a.m. at Lipscomb University.

The Division I girls' state tourney begins next Wednesday in Murfreesboro.

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