If the Cleveland boys learned anything in the last couple of weeks of this high school basketball season, it's how to put a bad loss behind them quickly. Fellow District 5-AAA member Walker Valley now hopes to do the same thing.
They are among the Chattanooga-area teams that have advanced to region tournaments, which begin tonight with girls' quarterfinals at 7 local time of the host schools. Boys' quarterfinals are Saturday.
There is one exception in the Chattanooga area. Because Signal Mountain's teams are both hosting Sequoyah in Region 3-AA, the schools worked it out with the TSSAA to have both games tonight, with the girls starting at 6 and the boys at 7:30.
Signal Mountain's K.T. Webb (20) pushes the ball downcourt during the District 6-AA boys' basketball championship game between Tyner and Signal Mountain Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018 at Howard High School in Chattanooga, Tenn."I think it just makes for a better atmosphere," Signal Mountain boys' coach Steve Redman said. "It should be easier on a family from there, if they have a brother and a sister playing. They only have to make one trip. I think common sense prevailed. People don't have to pay for two nights. I hope it goes well, since we had to get special permission."
No. 5-ranked Cleveland traveled to No. 2-ranked Bearden on Feb. 12 for its final regular-season game and ended up on the bad end of a 93-76 score. However, the Blue Raiders bounced back and won their two district-tournament games by scores of 94-57 and 81-36 - the second over Walker Valley in the championship game.
"I think if we play like this," Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said after Tuesday's final at Walker Valley, "we'll give ourselves a chance against any team on any given night."
Cleveland will host Cookeville in one Region 3 boys' quarterfinal. The Blue Raiders landed Deontae Davis, Dionte Ware and Romeo Wykle on the all-tournament team. Ware, a junior, paced Cleveland with 25 points in the final, reaching the career 1,000-point plateau with his last field goal.
Walker Valley (18-15) will be looking for a bounce-back performance when it hosts Warren County.
Class AAA Bradley Central's No. 2-ranked Bearettes headline the area girls' contingent. They are led by senior guard Rhyne Howard, who has been on a scoring binge in the second half of the season. She currently sits at 2,369 points in her Bradley career, 70 points behind the program's No. 5 scorer Brittany Jackson.
Girls' semifinals are scheduled Monday and finals are scheduled Wednesday, all at central locations. The same applies for the boys' equivalent games Tuesday and Thursday.
Region 3-AAA will be played at Rhea County. Region 4-AA will be held in Cookeville, the semifinals at Tennessee Tech and the finals at Cookeville High, and Region 3-AA moves to Red Bank. White County is the host site for Region 3-A and Tellico Plains is the host site for Region 2-A.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.