BY TATE RUSSELL
Four local girls’ teams will start region tournament action tonight and two local boys teams will begin region play Saturday.
All games begin at 7 p.m.
The West Greene girls will travel to Elizabethton to take on the District 1-AA champion. Elizabethton has gone 22-4 and only lost twice to in-state teams this year. The Lady Cyclones are carrying a seven-game win streak into the match up.
West Greene finished fourth in the District 2-AA tournament, two spots ahead of their regular season finish. The Lady Buffs are 9-20 on the season but seven of those win have come in their last 14 games.
Chuckey-Doak will travel to Happy Valley after finishing third in the District 2-AA tournament. The Lady Knights are 13-16 on the year.
Happy Valley finished the regular season fourth out of five teams in District 1-AA but handily beat Unicoi County in the district semi-finals to earn the two seed going into the region tournament.
The South Greene girls were District 2-AA tournament runners up and will host Sullivan East in the opening round of the region tournament. The Lady Rebels have 22 wins this season and only have three losses to district opponents, all three to the hands of top ranked Grainger.
Sullivan East finished third in the District 1-AA tournament and is 20-10 this season. The teams have faced each other once this season on November 19. South Greene won 65-54.
The North Greene girls won the District 1-A tournament and will host Clinch to start the Region 1-A tournament. North Greene is 24-8 on the year and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Clinch finished fourth out of four teams in district 2-A and did not win a district game.
The Chuckey-Doak boys won the District 2-AA tournament after finishing third in the regular season and will host Happy Valley to start the Region 1-AA tournament. The Black Knights have won 19 games this season and are 12-4 since Christmas.
Happy Valley is 5-23 on the season but defeated Unicoi County to open the District 1-AA tournament allowing them to finish fourth.
The Greeneville boys will travel to Sullivan East on Saturday to begin their region tournament action. The Greene Devils went undefeated in District 2-AA play in the regular season but were upset by Grainger in the semi finals of the district tournament.
Sullivan East comes into the match up with a 24-7 record and having won 10 of their last 11. Sullivan East also went undefeated in their district regular season action but lost to Elizabethton in the finals of the District 1-AA tournament.
