Goin' to the 'ship

It looks like 52.2 percent of 161 votes cast on the Times-Gazette website were correct. The Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes have a great chance to win a state championship when the tourney gets underway this week at MTSU's Murphy Center.

Just as with any team busing into Murfreesboro this week, it's been a long and sometimes bumpy ride for Shelbyville's girls, but if it were easy, then everybody would be there. Instead we're down to the final eight teams.

Trip No. 22 to the big dance comes on the heels of Shelbyville being state runner-up in 2006.

The bracket shows that the local girls open up on Thursday versus Oak Ridge and could face a Wilson Central team the tenth-ranked Eaglettes beat by 20 back in late January if both win their first-round matchups. Sixth-ranked Wilson Central does boast Miss Basketball finalist Jasmine Hassell to a deep arsenal of weapons.

First things first. Oak Ridge was the top-ranked team in the final AP poll back on Feb. 19. They are the District 3-AAA and Region 2-AAA champs and carry a 21-game win streak. The Lady Wildcats are led by coach Jill Prudden and junior forward Raegan Thompson, although Kierra Johnson, Jazzmine Hazzard and Quesha McClanahan can all put points on the board.

Stay tuned to see how it turns out.