With all our local teams now having at least one game under their belts and the state football playoffs nearly over, it finally feels like basketball season.

And if the early results are any indication, it looks like it could be a good one for Logan County and Russellville.

On the boys' side, both the Cougars and Panthers opened the season with wins.

That's always good to see, but even better was the way they did it.

Russellville looked really good all around on Saturday against Jo Byrns

The Panthers were monsters on the glass. Their rebounding effort was extremely impressive - especially on the offensive side where they had 25 boards.

Russellville has a really nice mix of experienced players - like Damian Elam, Daniel Pardue and Donnie Bigbee - to go along with its talented group of sophomores and freshmen.

It's also good to see Mikie Benton back on the team.

The talented quarterback for the football team didn't play last year, but looks to be one of the most athletic players on this squad.

As long as they continue to mature throughout the year, the Panthers will have a chance to make some noise come tournament time.

And while the Logan County Cougars weren't nearly as flashy in their debut last week, they still picked up an exciting double-overtime win over Butler County.

If their season-opener is any indication, the Cougars will be relying on their defense to win games this year.

For the most part, Logan County stifled Butler County.

The Cougars also did a great job on the boards. With the exception of one period, they limited the Bears to just one shot on nearly every possession.

While Logan County probably won't set any scoring records this year, it will have ample chances to pick up several victories as long as the defense and rebounding holds up.

On the girls' side, the Lady Cougars might not have won pretty at Trigg County on Friday - but they were able to pull it out when it matter.

And that was without their best player - senior forward Brittany Roark.

The Russellville girls' team was the only one that suffered a loss in its opener, but that's to be expected when you only have two players with varsity experience on the team.