Full slate of tournament games this weekend

There were 17 high school basketball teams playing in Madison County this season.

Of the four private schools in the county, Sacred Heart’s boys and the girls’ teams at Trinity Christian and University School of Jackson made it past the region tournament round.

In Division II-A, the top four teams in each of the three regions make it to substate, which is essentially a 12-team tournament culminating with the semifinals and championships in the first weekend in March at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.

TCA’s girls defeated USJ on Saturday, giving the Lady Lions a bye into the state quarterfinals, which also means they get one more home game to try to return to the state tournament for the third time in four years.

USJ played Providence Christian Academy on Tuesday at home and lost 56-39, ending the Lady Bruins’ season.

The Lady Lions will host Middle Tennessee Christian, who defeated Boyd Buchanan. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart’s boys traveled to Silverdale Academy in Chattanooga on Wednesday. Log onto jacksonpost.news for results from that game.

Here’s a look at Division I region schedules:

Region 6-3A Girls

South Side won the District 12-3A championship and will host Hardin County, who finished fourth in 11-3A.

“We’re proud of this district championship, but these players know we’re not done yet – it’s only a step toward where we want to be,” said South Side head coach Brent McNeal. “We’ll treat this week like a normal week and hopefully be ready for a good team from the other district, Hardin County, who will want to come in and ruin our plans.

“We need to focus on that game on that night and not worry about anything else.”

North Side, who finished fourth, will travel to 11-3A champion McNairy Central.

Liberty finished third and will travel to the other district’s runner-up, Chester County.

South Gibson will host third-place Lexington.

Region 6-3A boys

After falling to South Gibson in the District 12-3A championship, Liberty will try to get back to winning as it hosts the third-place team from 11-3A, Chester County, who swept Liberty in their two games in the regular season – by 11 points in Henderson and in overtime at Liberty.

“We’ve played better basketball the last few games, so I feel good about our chances because we were already competing with them,” said Liberty head coach Lonnie Starks. “We shot the game well in our win over South Side on Friday.

“We didn’t shoot the ball as well tonight in this loss to South Gibson. Hopefully our shots will be falling on Saturday.”

After North Side outlasted South Side in the 12-3A consolation game on Monday, the Indians will travel to 11-3A runner-up Hardin County and South Side travels the champion, McNairy Central.

In the fourth matchup, South Gibson will host the former team of head coach Keith Runyon, Lexington.

The region semifinals and championship are scheduled to be at Chester County. If 12-3A teams were to sweep, the tournament when then shift to South Gibson.

Region 7-2A boys

Madison finished fourth in District 13-2A and has to travel to Memphis to take on Douglass on Saturday at 7 p.m.

If the Mustangs were to win, the region semifinals and championship will be played at Scotts Hill, a little closer to home.

Region 7-1A girls

Jackson Central-Merry outlasted Middleton in the District 14-1A consolation game and will travel to District 13-1A runner-up South Fulton on Friday.

The Lady Red Devils lost in the championship in overtime. The region semifinals and championship will be played at UT Martin unless District 14 sweeps the quarterfinals, which would move the games to Peabody in Trenton.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news