Four local basketball teams (TRM’s girls and boys and WSN’s girls and boys) will play in their respective area tournaments next week. Of the four teams, three will be playing in their home gyms.
WSN’s boys wrapped up their area championship Friday when they took UMS-Wright to move to 3-0 in area play. WSN has since went 4-0 in area play and will host their tournament while the Lady Eagles took second place and will have to travel to Mobile and play at UMS-Wright.
Also on Friday, TRM’s girls and boy’s teams capped off identical 3-1 area tournament records as they took losses in Evergreen to Hillcrest. The problem was that Hillcrest also finished 3-1. TRM won games over the Jaguars while the Jaguars claimed wins over TRM in Evergreen.
With the identical 3-1 records, the two teams were forced to break the tie with a toss of a coin.
That coin flip happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning at TRM and went in favor of the TRM teams.
TRM’s varsity boys head coach Juan Johnson and Lady Tigers coach Ron Jackson gathered in a room with TRM principal Mary Bell and athletic director Jamie Riggs. Bell serves as the coordinator for the area. On hand for Hillcrest was the principal of the school and the school’s athletic director.
Prior to the coin flip, heads would be for Hillcrest and tails would be for T.R. Miller.
With the flip of the coin by Riggs, tails would be the winner for both the girls flip and the boys flip giving TRM the regular season area championship and the No. 1 seed in the class 3A area 2 tournament while Hillcrest took the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Opp took third place.
“It is good for it to go our way,” TRM varsity boys head coach Juan Johnson said. “Our kids got us in this position. Obviously you hate for it to go to a coin flip, but when it is 50-50 and it goes your way, I like that chance. Obviously we still have to play the winner next Saturday night, but we will see how it goes. We will get prepared and see what we can do.”
Jackson agreed with Johnson.
“Well, ditto what coach Johnson said,” Jackson said. “I am just happy we won the coin toss. I think we played well enough this year to be in the position to get a coin toss. The fact that we can win it and both will be playing at home on the same night, I am glad it fell in our favor. I think our kids will be excited about it. We are excited about it and hope we can just go out there and get a win.”
The cost to attend the area tournament games, as well as the sub-regional games, is $6, which is set by the AHSAA.
Sub-regional games will be played on Mon., Feb. 9 for the girls, and Tues., Feb. 10, for the boy’s games.

Class 3A area 2 girl’s tournament at TRM:
The girl’s tournament will be played Thurs., Feb. 5 and Sat., Feb. 7, at TRM.
No. 2 seed Hillcrest will play No. 3 seed Opp at 5 p.m. The winner will play TRM at 5 p.m. on Saturday for the area championship.
Both the area champion and area runner-up advance to sub-region play. The area champion will host while the runner-up will travel.
Area 2 is set to meet up with area 4.
In the area 4 tournament, Abbeville is the top seed and will play No. 4 seed Pike County. No. 2 seed Barbour County will play No. 3 seed Dale County. The tournament is in Abbeville.

Class 3A area 2 boy’s tournament at TRM:
The boy’s tournament will be played Thurs., Feb. 5 and Sat., Feb. 7, at TRM.
No. 2 seed Hillcrest will play No. 3 seed Opp at 6:30 p.m. The winner will play TRM at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday for the area championship.
Both the area champion and area runner-up advance to sub-region play. The area champion will host while the runner-up will travel.
Area 2 is set to meet up with area 4.
In the area 4 tournament, Pike County is the top seed and will play No. 4 seed Dale County. No. 2 seed Barbour County will play No. 3 seed Abbeville. The tournament is in Abbeville.

Class 4A area 1 girl’s tournament at UMS:
The girl’s tournament will be played Mon., Feb. 2 and Wed., Feb. 4, at UMS-Wright in Mobile.
No. 2 seed W.S. Neal will play No. 3 seed Satsuma at 6 p.m. The winner will play UMS at 6 p.m. on Wednesday for the area championship.
Both the area champion and area runner-up advance to sub-region play. The area champion will host while the runner-up will travel.
Area 1 is set to meet up with area 3.
In the area 3 tournament, Clarke County is the top seed and will play No. 4 seed Thomasville. No. 2 seed Monroe County will play No. 3 seed Southside-Selma. The tournament is in Grove Hill at CCHS.

Class 4A area 1 boy’s tournament at WSN Middle School:
The boy’s tournament will be played Tues., Feb. 3 and Thurs., Feb. 5, at WSNMS.
No. 2 seed UMS-Wright will play No. 3 seed Satsuma at 5:30 p.m. The winner will play WSN at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday for the area championship.
Both the area champion and area runner-up advance to sub-region play. The area champion will host while the runner-up will travel.
Area 1 is set to meet up with area 3.
In the area 3 tournament, Thomasville is the top seed and will play No. 4 seed Clarke County. No. 2 seed Monroe County will play No. 3 seed Southside-Selma. The tournament is in Thomasville.

TRM coin flip video from Wednesday: