District 8-AA hoop tournament starts Monday
Keith Ready | For the Courier
The Cannon County Lionettes, fresh off their 45-40 win Thursday night against Livingston at Livingston Academy, will begin their postseason Monday night at Tennessee Tech University's Hooper Eblen Center in Cookeville against the same Lady Wildcat team. With the win Thursday, Cannon finished fifth in the regular season standings. Livingston tied Smith County for eighth with the loss. A coin flip at the district coaches meeting quickly settled the first round matchups as Livingston lost the coin toss. Cannon swept the season series but with Livingston's rich tournament tradition, it will be a big challenge for the Lionettes as they try to reach their goal of participating in the Region tournament for the first time in four years and will need to win Monday and Tuesday to advance to the semifinals and an automatic bid to the regions. The Lionettes played without one of their leaders in Jessie Kauffman, who sustained a concussion against Upperman last Tuesday. According to Coach Jonathan Odom, Kauffman will get reevaluated Monday morning and doctors have shared the optimism that it was just a light grade concussion. Game time has been moved up 30 minutes to 5:00 both Monday and Tuesday to accommodate the Tennessee Tech basketball practice schedule. Kristin Fann was named to the All-District Second Team while Kauffman, Anna Grace Sissom and Taylor Meeks were named to the third team. Tori Knox landed on the honorable mention team. • The Cannon County Lions will meet a team they have beaten three times this season, twice the wins counted in the district standings and once during a Christmas tournament. DeKalb County and Cannon County will once again renew their rivalry in a game where one team will continue in the tournament while the other's season will end. The Lions defeated the Tigers soundly in their first match this season winning 48-33. Then came the non-district matchup in the Watertown tournament during the Christmas season which Cannon won in a much closer contest 52-46. The third outing for Cannon also proved successful, taking a 66-59 win in Smithville toward the end of January. This game starts the second day of the tournament Tuesday and will also start at 5 p.m. Cannon put four on the all honorable mention team during the regular season. Luke Alexander, Blake Bush, Wade Love and Jacob Raines received the honors while Gus Davenport made the all- freshman team. DISTRICT TOURNAMENT Tuesday, February 12 (First Round/Quarterfinals) Wednesday, February 13 (Quarterfinals - at Cookeville High School) Friday, February 15 (Semifinals) Monday, February 18 Tuesday, February 19
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