Dresden and Summertown face each other once again in Class A quarterfinals

Luis Torres
Jackson Sun
Dresden's Jonathan West talks with his team before the start of the second overtime during their Region 7-A Championship game, Wednesday, Feb. 28. Greenfield defeated Dresden, 66-64 in double overtime to become the Region 7-A Champions.

Summertown coach Craig McGill was watching the girls Class A state tournament draw intently.

He was waiting to see who his team was going to play. But there was one team he didn’t want to draw: Dresden.

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The two teams faced each other in last year’s Class A quarterfinals. Summertown came out on top. As the brackets were reveled, McGill’s intent quickly changed to dismay.

Summertown drew the Lady Lions once again. Based on his initial reaction, McGill knows his team is up for a battle at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Murphy Center.  

“Ah man, not again,” McGill said. “Not again. Just being honest. That’s the one you really don’t want to play. Someone that you played the year before and you feel like they’re going to have revenge on their minds, so you gotta be really, really prepared in those situations.”

Dresden coach Jonathan West didn’t have the same initial reaction as McGill. There’s always a chance when the same two teams make it to the state tournament that they’ll face off once again.

“It was just you’re going to get who you get,” West said. “You don’t really have any control over it and they got a really good team.”

More: Humboldt boys can't overcome Douglass, black out and change of venue.

Greenfield's Anna Dale Wright reaches up in attempt to block Dresden's Mary Grace Davis during their Region 7-A Championship game, Wednesday, Feb. 28. Greenfield defeated Dresden, 66-64 in double overtime to become the Region 7-A Champions.

If there’s one thing working in favor for both teams is the familiarity between each other.

Summertown has been near the top of the Class A rankings all year. The Lady Eagles are a deep team with eight seniors.

Dresden has a key player in Mary Grace Davis and role players like Katie Washburn who’ve stepped up as the season has gone on. Both played in some capacity last season against the Lady Eagles.

“With it being Summertown, we already have some information from the game last year,” West said. “They got basically the same team back, so we know it’s going to be a challenge. Our girls are kind of familiar with (them), so there are things that make it a little bit easier I guess to prepare for since we already know a little bit.”

More: Middleton boys must find a way to get over sectional hump.

A rough first half hurt Dresden last year. But that’s in the past. McGill respects the job West has done to get the Lady Lions back in the state tournament.

“In those situations, in those win or go home games, I really feel like the team that loses most of the time has the least amount to lose in that situation,” McGill said. “I just really didn’t want to draw Dresden.”

Revenge isn’t on the mind of West. He just wants to see if the Lady Lions can change their fortunes this time around against Summertown. It starts by doing the little things.

“You can always defend, you can always rebound and you can always take care of the basketball,” West said. “If we do those Thursday, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

Reach Luis Torres at ltorres1@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9638 and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.