The list of players who made the Girls Second Region All-Tournament was almost as interesting as the list of those who did not make the team.
After Henderson County beat Webster County for their fifth straight region title Saturday, players named to the All-Tournament team were Alyse Poindexter, Ariel Barnes, and Krista Norman from Henderson County; Lynette Harris, Kerstin Hayes, and Natalie Stone from Webster County; KeKe Drake and Tayla Foster from Madisonville; Shatera Lewis and Denisha Mumford from Christian County; Jayme Jackson of Caldwell County; and Jessi Hodge of Crittenden County.
Trigg County and Hopkinsville were not represented on the team.
Coaches turn in their ballot of players based on tournament play before halftime of the championship game. Usually, coaches who fail to turn in a ballot disqualify their own players from the selection process. This happened to Trigg County in Bill Chumbler's first season as boys head coach in 2003.
However, Lady Wildcat head coach Amy Breckel told me that she did indeed turn in a ballot at the championship game.
One noticeable name missing from the team was Caldwell County's Emily Meeks. She had 16 points and 10 rebounds in a semifinal loss to Henderson County and had 19 points and seven rebounds against Trigg County in the opener.
Jackson had 14 points and eight assists against Trigg County and just eight points against Henderson County, but was named to the All-Region team.
Trigg County's Janada Acree scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Caldwell County. She also was not voted to the team.
Crittenden County's Jessi Hodge scored 16 points against Christian County in the first round of their blowout loss. Some of those buckets came when the game was out of hand.
Madisonville's KeKe Drake also had 16 points in her team's first round loss. They were both selected.
In fact, Madisonville, the host school, had two players named to the All-Region team despite losing in the first round. Caldwell County advanced to the semifinals yet only had one player named.
To me, the numbers don't add up. I'm not saying every team should be represented on the team, but a 22-point, 10-rebound performance against a defense keyed on shutting her down merits inclusion on the team. The same arguement applies to Meeks, who proved to be the difference in their win over Trigg County.
It's one of the reasons why former Trigg County coach Jim Wallace doesn't like All-Tournament teams. And his sentiments are beginning to rub off on me.
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