N-D&L Photos/Kelly Phillips
ABOVE: Russellville’s Damian Elam goes up for a layup during the Fourth Region Tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Panthers were eliminated Monday with a 44-41 loss to Bowling Green.
Once again, the Panthers proved to be the top team in the Russellville/Logan County area as they were the only local team to make the region tournament in each of the past two years.
Russellville did one better this time around though.
Last season, the Panthers fell in the opening round of the Fourth Region Tournament. This year’s squad knocked off District 15 champion Allen County-Scottsville, though, before dropping their semifinal matchup.
Maybe next year the Panthers will be able to take another step forward and make it to the finals of the region – and maybe even win it all.
If the current trend holds up, Russellville will probably meet Bowling Green in the finals.
On Monday, the Purples ended the Panthers’ season for the second straight year.
RHS lost a hard-fought game 44-41 to Bowling Green. In 2008, BGHS won on a last-second shot. This week it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but it was close.
Russellville was extremely cold from the field to start the game, missing 19 of its first 22 shots. As a result, the Purples were able to claim a commanding 33-13 lead in the third quarter.
But the Panthers didn’t give up and battled back from the big deficit, eventually tying the score up at 41-41 with about two minutes left in the game.
Bowling Green scored the final three points of the game. D.J. Quarles missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer, which would have sent the game into overtime.
Kevin Temple again led Russellville in scoring with 13 points. He was also the Panthers top scorer against Allen County-Scottsville in the first round of the tournament.
Davonta Bryant added nine points for RHS and Quarles added eight.
BGHS senior Tevin Barksdale led the all scorers with 17 points – including the final three points of the game.
Looking ahead to 2009-10
The basketball season that just wrapped up was – for the most part – a nice improvement over the previous one.
The Logan County and Russellville girls’ teams both had great improvements to their overall records.
The Lady Cougars finished with an overall record of 12-11 – which was their first winning season in five years.
The Lady Panthers had an even more dramatic improvements. After winning just two games in 2007-08, they went 13-14 this past season. Russellville was extremely close to winning the All ‘A’ Classic Region Tournament and also nearly advanced to the Fourth Region Tournament. In both cases, the Lady Panthers lost heartbreaking games to Todd County Central, losing by one point in the All ‘A’ and falling in overtime in the first round of the District 13 Tournament.
The good news is that both Logan County and Russellville return nearly their entire teams for next year.
Both girls’ squads will bring back four starters and have several young players, who should be ready to contribute next year.
It will be hard for both of them to advance to next year’s region tournament (Franklin-Simpson will still be very good next year) but with Todd Central graduating several key players from it’s team, there’s a good chance a local girls’ team will be playing in the Fourth Region Tournament next year.
There’s also plenty to look forward to on the boys’ side.
Both Logan County and Russellville return most of their key components next year.
LCHS doubled its win total this year. And while a 4-21 record isn’t all that great, the Cougars should be able to do even better next year.
Entering his second year, coach Harold Tackett will be able to tailor the schedule to his own style.
He will also have most of his top players back – especially a strong senior class that will include Seth McReynolds, Brett Sowell, Jonathan Barbee and Thomas Washington.
The Panthers lose some quality seniors off this year’s team – most notably starter Charleston Sydnor and reserve guard Daniel Pardue – but bring back four out of the starting five.
Warren Central, which was the top Fourth Region team in this year’s regular season, will also have plenty coming back. But the Dragons and Panthers will likely be the two preseason favorites for next season.
Region results
The Russellville Panthers can take some solace in the fact that the team that knocked them from the Fourth Region Tournament went on to win it all.
Bowling Green High beat Franklin-Simpson 54-47 on Tuesday to win its first Fourth Region title in 18 years.
The Purples (26-6) advance to the KHSAA Sweet 16 state tournament next week and will face state power Lexington Catholic in the first round. That game will take place March 17 at noon – the opening game of this year’s state tournament.
Spring sports
With the state basketball season wrapping up, it’s just a matter of days before the spring prep sports of baseball, softball, tennis and track get under way.
Baseball and softball will be the first to take the field, beginning the week of March 23.
Tennis begins play one week later while track and field kicks off the first week of April.
Season tickets for baseball and softball games are now on sale at both Russellville and Logan County high schools. Contact the school for more details.
— OJ Stapleton is the editor of the News-Democrat & Leader. Contact him at edit_ndl@bellsouth.net.
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