Coin flip gives DHS home court
Danville’s boys basketball team will get to host the area by the flip of a coin, literally. All four teams of Class 3A, Area 15 were tied with a 3-3 area record after every area game was played this season. Coach Doug Oldacre said they had to get help from the AHSAA office to help break the tie. “We call the state office and they said we’d have to break the tie with a coin flip,” Oldacre said. “It’s been a real competitive area and everyone is beating up on each other.” Fortunately for the Hawks, the coin flipped in their favor, allowing them to get the all-important home court advantage for the tournament. Danville will play Elkmont in one game while West Morgan faces Clements in the other boys tournament match-up. Danville (11-6) split with Elkmont (8-11) in the regular season while losing twice to Clements (12-12). The Hawks beat West Morgan (15-12) both times in area play but fell to the Rebels in the county tournament last week. Oldacre said his team will have to do a good job cutting down on its turnovers while out rebound-ing Elkmont. In particular, he said the key is defending the Red Devils’ point guard. “When we beat Elmont, we did a good job of defending him, but when we lost, he played a great game against us,” Oldacre said. “That should be the key match-up that we have to defend.”
Priceville wins coin flip to host area
Three teams are ranked in the top 10 in the Danville girls basketball team’s area, but only two of them can move on to the playoffs.
The third-ranked Lady Hawks (23-4) don’t want to be the team that’s left out of the mix when the area tournament starts Thursday at Clements High School.
Coach Paul Wilson said this area tournament could be one of the best in the state.
“This is probably one of the toughest areas in the state,” Wilson said. “We have three teams ranked in the top 6 in Class 3A. There’s going to be a really good team that doesn’t even make it out of the area. We just hope that’s not us.”
Danville started its season with 13 consecutive wins before losing to No. 6 West Morgan on the road. The three other losses were to 6A Hazel Green, 5A Brewer and No. 2 Clements, who finished 5-1 in the area.
However, Danville has won its last four games going into Monday’s East Lawrence game.
During that streak, the Lady Hawks have faced a lot of adversity. In the county championship game with Brewer, Danville faced a seemingly insurmountable 19-point deficit to the casual fan, but Wilson’s team knew they still had a chance.
“There wasn’t any panic when we went in the locker room,” Wilson said. “All I said is that we have 16 minutes to undo what we did in the first half and that’s what we did.”
Wilson said that win has given his team confidence.
“You never want to get down by 19 in a game, but coming back from that, it does give us confidence that we can come back from it if we have to,” Wilson said.
Area tournament pairings
Girls
Class 2A
Area 15 at Tanner
Thursday, Feb. 10: Falkville v. Westminster, 6 p.m.; Tanner vs. Cleveland, 7:30 p .m.
Monday, Feb. 14: Finals, 6 p.m.
Class 3A
Area 15 at Clements
Thursday, Feb. 10: West Morgan vs. Danville, 6 p.m. Clements vs. Elkmont, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 12: Finals, 7 p.m.
Class 4A
Area 13 at Priceville
Thursday, Feb. 10: Fairview vs. Good Hope, 6 p.m.; Priceville vs. East Lawrence, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday. Feb. 12: Finals
Class 5A
Area 13 at Brewer
Thursday, Feb. 10: Hartselle vs. Cullman, 6 p.m.; Brewer vs. West Point, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 14: Finals, 6 p.m.
Boys
Class 2A
Area 15 at Tanner
Friday, Feb. 11: Cleveland vs. Westminster, 6 p.m.; Tanner vs. Falkville, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 14: Finals, 7:30 p.m.
Class 3A
Area 15 at Danville
Friday, Feb. 11: Danville vs. Elkmont, 6 p.m.; Clements vs. West Morgan, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 14: Finals, 7 p.m.
Class 4A
Area 13 at Fairview
Friday, Feb. 11: Priceville vs. East Lawrence, 6 p.m.; Fairview vs. Good Hope, 7:30 p.m.
Mon., Feb. 14: Finals, 7 p.m.
Area 13 at Brewer HS, Somerville
Friday, Feb. 11: Hartselle vs. West Point, 6 p.m.; Brewer vs. Cullman, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 14: Finals, 7:30 p.m.
