Today’s the day.
Sectional play begins for a trio of Jackson County teams with Seymour, Medora and Trinity Lutheran all beginning their postseason journeys tonight.
The regular season ended fairly well for the Owls, who won their final game Thursday, defeating Hoosier Hills Conference rival New Albany 44-39.
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Seymour led for a half but had to come from behind to beat the Bulldogs after they took a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
Free throw shooting and late-game toughness allowed the Owls to close out the regular season with a victory and gain some needed momentum heading into tonight.
“This was a big game we felt like we needed heading into next week,” Owls coach Jason Longmeier said after the New Albany game.
The Owls take on the defending sectional champion, Class 4A No. 13 Bedford North Lawrence, in the first game of the Jennings County Sectional at 6 p.m.
Earlier this season, the Owls gave the Stars all they could handle thanks to some sharpshooting from behind the 3-point line in the first half. Yet, the Stars buckled down and used their size to take down the Owls in the second half, winning 59-49.
“I think we outplayed Bedford in every aspect we could the first time we played them,” Longmeier said.
In the loss, the Owls shot zero free throws to the Stars’ 32.
BNL had won eight straight before falling to Class 3A power Salem last week and will undoubtedly be looking to return to good form as the sectional begins.
Over at West Washington, Class A top-ranked Trinity Lutheran has dreams of getting back to sectional glory.
The Cougars also will look to rebound after a tough loss to Madison, who turned over the Cougars 17 times to win 55-36.
Trinity had won seven straight prior to that loss and will be looking to get back to its winning ways against an Edinburgh team they beat by 14 earlier this season.
All three Cougar losses this year have been to Class 3A opponents, twice to Brownstown Central and the Thursday loss to the Cubs.
The closest a Class A opponent has gotten to Trinity this year is nine points. That happened Jan. 9 against West Washington, who the Cougars could meet in the sectional final should both teams get there.
Though the Cougars have big postseason goals, they can’t just expect to roll the ball out and win.
“We’re just going to have to play better,” Trinity coach Mike Lang said after the Madison game. “We’ve got the potential to make a long run. It just depends on if they’ve got the heart to make that long run.”
In the second game of the night, Medora will look for a little revenge against Shawe Memorial.
The Hilltoppers took care of the Hornets 41-15 at the end of November for one of just two wins for them in 2019.
Having a full team has been a challenge for Medora coach Brad McCammon, who is down to just five players on the team.
It has been a new obstacle to overcome for McCammon, who admits he has never been in this situation before.
“I have not been in one of these spots before, so I’m learning how to use my timeout kind of like TV timeouts, if you will,” he said. “We’re getting them to focus on each quarter and have them understand what we’re trying to accomplish. The kids are playing through it as best they can.”
Medora has not won a postseason game since 2011. That win came against the Crothersville Tigers, who will have to wait until Friday before they play again.
They’ll take on the winner of Trinity Lutheran and Edinburgh, two teams the Tigers played back-to-back in late November.
Crothersville dropped both games by 14 points or more but hung around after the first half.
Coach Kevin Hensley expects a rematch with the top-ranked Cougars. He said the No. 1 key to success against Trinity Lutheran is rebounding.
“We’ve got to get rebounds on our offensive end,” he said. “They’ve got size and strength inside.”
He said they need to do a better job of slowing down the Cougars. He contends transition buckets is how Trinity pulled away from them in their first meeting.
For Brownstown Central, the Braves hope this is the year they end a nine-year sectional drought.
They don’t get started until Wednesday night when they take on Brown County in the second game of the Owen Valley Sectional.
Brownstown is coming off its first Mid-Southern Conference title in five years after dominating a much longer North Harrison team 66-35 on Thursday.
It was the perfect cap to a seven-game winning streak for the Braves, who are enjoying their winningest season since the 2010-11 campaign.
First-year coach Brandon Allman praised his girls’ focus against the Cats and likened the game they played to when they defeated Salem earlier in the season.
Allman said if his girls play with the focus and intensity they did Thursday, they can play with anyone in Class 3A.
“We play like this, we’re going to be a tough out no matter who we play,” Allman said after the North Harrison game. “If we have this focus and the attention to detail, we’re a really good basketball team.”
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Jackson County
Team;W;L;Off;Def
Trinity Lutheran;21;3;57.5;40.6
Brownstown Central;21;3;56.4;40.6
Crothertsville;11;11;48.9;48.5
Seymour;8;16;44.9;54.3
Medora;0;15;19.7;59.7
Scoring leaders
Player (Team);GP;TP;Avg;Hi
Tabeling (TL);24;512;21.3;36
Meyer (S);24;407;17.3;33
Jaynes (TL);24;390;16.3;27
Benter (BC);24;384;16.0;29
Cole (C);22;268;12.8;26
Hackman (BC);24;247;10.3;19
Schrader (S);24;237;9.9;29
Helt (C);22;229;10.9;23
Sabotin (TL);23;185;8.0;19
Mariah Cobb (M);15;151;8.7;17
Hoosier Hills
Team;HHC;All
Bedford N. Lawrence;6;1;16;5
Jeffersonville;6;1;13;10
Columbus East;5;2;15;7
Madison;3;4;14;8
New Albany;3;4;7;14
Seymour;3;4;8;16
Jennings County;2;5;9;14
Floyd Central;0;7;5;17
Mid-Southern
Team;MSC;All
Brownstown Central;8;1;21;3
Salem;8;1;19;3
Silver Creek;7;2;19;3
North Harrison;6;3;13;9
Eastern (Pekin);4;5;15;8
Scottsburg;4;5;14;9
Charlestown;3;6;13;10
Corydon Central;3;6;13;10
Austin;2;7;8;14
Clarksville;0;8;4;17
Southern Athletic
Team;SAC;All
Lanesville;5;0;20;3
Crothersville;3;2;11;11
New Washington;3;2;11;11
Borden;2;3;10;12
Henryville;2;3;8;13
South Central;0;5;2;20
Southern Roads
Team;SRC;All
Columbus Christian;3;0;18;4
Dugger;1;1;5;13
Medora;0;1;0;15
Cannelton;0;2;2;18
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