You win some, you lose some, that’s the tale of ‘17 All ‘A’

With this writing on Tuesday morning Clinton County fans are feeling a mix of emotions, as is often the case for high school basketball fans, following Monday night’s opening round of the All “A” Classic regional tournament.

Our Lady Dawgs managed to hold off the Russellville Lady Panthers down the stretch, and thanks to a successful last second basket that just beat the buzzer by senior guard Macy Campbell, we advance to the semi-final round of play.

Beating a Russellville team in their own Panther den is never an easy feat and Monday night’s contest was certainly witness to that.

Campbell’s game winning basket broke the tied score and gave the Lady Dawgs the chance to advance to the semi-final round that was set to be played Wednesday night against the Lady Falcons of Monroe County.

We will certainly have our hands full Wednesday night, but a house full of Big Blue fans can only help boost our ladies as they strive for a spot in the championship game Friday night.

Congrats are certainly in order for our Lady Dawgs in a year that has been up and down and continues to be injury plagued. As I’ve said in this space more than once, it’s clear that the girls are starting to put their game in order and it should only look up from here.

That was the glee portion of Tuesday morning’s emotions. The other side of the emotion scale involved our Bulldogs and their heartbreaking loss that came at the hands of host Russellville Monday night, also in that All “A” Classic regional tournament opening round game.

After jumping out to control a nice first quarter lead, Clinton County spent the rest of the night trying to maintain the lead and hold off the Panthers down the stretch.

Russellville eventually overtook the Dawgs and a back and forth battle ensued in the end of regulation, ending with the game stretching into overtime with a 68-68 tied score.

The Panthers and their leader, Belmont University (OVC) commit DeAndre Bradshaw pulled away in the extra period to take the 78-72 win away from the Dawgs.

Head Coach Todd Messer told me via a text message after the game that the bus Clinton County was riding on for the long trip home was filled with broken hearted team members – players and coaches alike.

Although all fans felt the pain the team was going through, at the same time, we are proud of the way they represented Clinton County in the contest – taking their top game straight to a much higher rated and highly touted opponent to battle the outcome down to the wire.

You win some, you lose some, but you do it as a team, and either way, you move on. That’s just one of the lessons this sport teaches our young players.

I’ll see you in the gym!