5 things to know heading into region tournaments

Michael Odom, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Trenton Peabody's Maya Anderson (4) works against Gibson County's Macey Neal during the District 14-A semifinals at Greenfield High School in Greenfield, Tenn., on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017.

In the coming days, the top teams in West Tennessee will be all that remains as teams begin play in region tournaments.

To advance past the region tournament, teams must reach the championship game.

Many of the teams are seeing their opponents for the first time this season, so there is no way to measure what should happen based on what the two teams did earlier this season.

So before region play begins Thursday night with the Region 7-A girls quarterfinals, here are five things you should know:

1. Rematches: While none of these matchups in the region quarterfinals are against district teams, some of these teams did play during the regular season.

Here are a few of the bigger matchups played earlier this season:

Gleason girls went on the road last year to beat Trenton Peabody in the region quarterfinals. The two also played earlier this year with Gleason winning at home. The two meet again Thursday night at Peabody.

Dresden and Gibson County girls battled on the opening day of the season with Dresden winning by one. One of them will have their season come to an end Thursday night at Dresden.

Chester County travels to Crockett County on Friday. The two played twice this season with each winning at home. The Lady Cavaliers will hope to continue that trend.

Lexington and Dyersburg play in girls and boys action during the region quarterfinals. Lexington girls host, while Dyersburg boys host. Dyersburg swept both series, so the Lady Tigers and Tigers will have to play one of their best games to advance to the region semifinals.

2. Possible sweeps: Each year there is always the potential for one district to sweep the other in the region quarterfinals, and that could possibly move the location of the region semifinals and final.

There are a few possibilities for that to happen this year.

District 15-A girls have swept 16-A multiple times in recent history, including last year. The No. 4 seed from District 15-A Scotts Hill must win on the road at Mitchell, a game the Lady Lions won by two points last year.

Since the tournament is already at Jackson Christian, a sweep by 15-A wouldn't change the location.

District 14-A boys have been known to sweep 13-A. With teams like Humboldt, Union City, Halls and Trenton Peabody, 14-A is loaded with talent.

If 14-A sweeps this year, the region semifinals and final would move to Humboldt.

District 15-AA girls have come close to sweeping 16-AA a couple of times. The hardest one to win will be No. 4 Ripley at No. 1 Trezevant.

Humboldt's Jarred Walker (5) drives toward the basket during the District 14-A championship game against Union City at the University of Tennessee at Martin's Elam Center in Martin, Tenn., on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017.

3. Bigger arenas: One thing that the district tournaments proved this past week was that the bigger arenas in West Tennessee need to be utilized.

Bethel University has hosted the District 13-A tournament the past couple of seasons, and the arena was full for the semifinals and finals this past week.

The boys semifinals and finals of the District 14-A tournament were moved to the Elam Center on the campus of UT Martin. Good thing because there were around 3,500 fans in the stands for the consolation and championship game.

Not really sure what happened with District 15-AA. The boys semifinals were moved to Oman Arena on Friday night. Ripley, Haywood, Liberty and North Side all had strong fan bases at Oman Arena with the majority of the arena full. But the consolation and championship were moved back to Liberty with those same four teams playing.

The need to move the Region 8-AA boys semifinals and final maybe should have been considered.

4. Longest region streaks: Two girls teams are trying to reach sectionals for the fifth straight season — Middleton and Westview. Westview has also made four straight trips to the state tournament.

Middleton girls have the longest streak of region semifinal appearance at six.

Westview and Hardin County are the only girls teams to reach the region tournament every year since 2003.

Humboldt boys had an 11-year run of sectional appearances come to an end last year. The longest active streak is Union City with three straight appearances.

The Vikings still hold the longest active streak of region semifinal appearances at 12 straight. Union City has made 11 straight.

Union City, Middleton and Haywood have reached the region tournament every year since 2003.

Humboldt and Westview have only missed the region tournament once during that stretch. Bolivar made the region tournament every year since 2003 until last year, and the Tigers aren't playing in it this year.

University School of Jackson's Anna Jones (25) puts up a shot against the defense of Middleton's Kiarea Walton (5) and Akirra Polk (1) during the Dyersburg Christmas Invitational in Terry Glover Gymnasium at Dyersburg High School in Dyersburg on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016.

5. Sub-state: One West Tennessee team has already completed region play and is ready for the next round. The University School of Jackson girls' team finished runner-up in the Division II-A West region tournament.

The Lady Bruins will host Franklin Road Academy at 6 p.m. on Friday for a spot in the Division II-A state semifinals.

This is USJ's first time to host a sub-state/sectional game since 2005 when the team reached the Class A state finals.

Friday night will be the last time that three-time Division II-A Miss Basketball finalist and USJ all-time scoring leader Anna Jones will play on her home floor. Jones has signed to play college basketball at Middle Tennessee State University.

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.