Madison, Jackson Co.
cruise into semifinals

Half of the TSSAA Class A Girls State Tournament semifinals is set.
Madison and Jackson County routed their opening rond opponents on Wednesday, Madison posting a 65-48 win over Collinwood and Jackson County putting away Hampton 58-38.
In the first game, Madison (26-10) had the game won by the end of the first quarter with a 22-9 lead. The margin stretched to 37-18 at the half.
Dakota Smith had 19 points and nine rebounds, Cayla Sheets pitched in 18, and Taylor Davis scored 10 for Madison. Alexis Hancock scored 21 points for Collinwood, which closed its season at 24-8.
Jackson County (31-3) took a 28-13 halftime lead en route to its quarterfinal win.
Jaycee Coe led all players with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Makenzie Hensley had 14 points and Kassidy Allen added 11 points for JC.
Alexis Bowers scored 12 for Hampton (27-10).

Graves Co. boys win
state tourney opener

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Zach Kimbler and Jake Williams each scored 23 points, and Graves County topped Ohio County 74-60 Wednesday in the first round of the Kentucky boys’ state basketball tournament.
Kimbler, who also grabbed nine rebounds, scored 12 of his points in the final 10 minutes of the game, propelling the 1st Region champion (27-8) from a narrow six-point lead to the final margin.
Graves County led wire-to-wire Wednesday, opening the game on a 7-2 run. Ohio County (26-9) closed the gap to one point at the midway point in the second quarter but could not overtake Graves.
Preston Lambrich led Ohio County with 19 points.

Lady Vols’ center
unlikely to play

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee coach Holly Warlick says sophomore center Isabelle Harrison is “doubtful” for this week’s Southeastern Conference tournament because of an injured right knee.
Harrison hurt her right knee Thursday in an 82-72 victory over Texas A&M and sat out Tennessee’s 78-65 loss at Kentucky on Sunday. Harrison already missed six games this season with an injured left knee, which caused her to undergo surgery on Feb. 1.

Published in The Messenger 3.7.13