Basketball musings ...

Calloway County's 20-point rout of Marshall County sent some shockwaves through girls' basketball circles. It's also a confirmation that the First Region race no longer has a clear front-runner.

The shocker was the way the Lady Marshals melted down offensively without a perimeter threat and in the face of Calloway's decision to go with a box-and-one on Jessica Holder and a triangle-and-two set on Holder and guard Jordan Gilland.

Laken Tabor's transfer to Crittenden County took away Marshall's top perimeter threat, and it was clear that the Lady Lakers were content to let guards Margaret Thomas and Tory Fehrenbacher shoot the three. Even center Hannah Ellis gave it a try.

The result? Marshall was 1-for-15 from beyond the arc, and First Region teams now have a few more defensive options.

Marshall assistant coach Aaron Beth admits his team will have to make some adjustments. He sees part of that as getting an infusion of confidence for the Lady Marshals' backcourt.

"We were really hesitant to shoot it," Beth said. "I've seen Margaret knock down seven in a row in practice. I've seen Tory hit four or five in a row. And we had 20 offensive rebounds. If we take a few more shots instead of passing it around because we're hesitant to shoot, that may have been a few more opportunities for us."

• No word yet on Laken Tabor's status at Crittenden County, but sources said that Marshall County's administration declined to contest the move. Indications are the KHSAA will investigate the circumstances of the move and render a decision sometime in the next week or so.

• Murray expects to have point guard Blake Darnall on the floor when the Tigers play in the All A Classic regional semifinals on Friday night. Darnall has begun shooting and some light ballhandling work and could be cleared to play later this week.

"I don't know how effective he will be," Murray coach Ron Greene said, "but I sure want to get him out there and find out."

• Ron Greene spent more than a decade as a Division I coach at Mississippi State, Murray State and Indiana State, so I wanted his take on Fulton County sophomore Leonard Smith, who had 26 points, 17 rebounds and three assists in the Pilots' overtime loss to Murray in the All A Classic.

"I always say that guys are suspects before they become prospects," Greene said. "He's got two years to develop. We will see how big he gets, but physically, he's already strong enough. He's a heck of a suspect. He's a person of interest."

• It went largely unnoticed, but Massac County's girls made a surprising showing against powerful Louisville Manual on Saturday at Muhlenberg North's shootout. Manual is a consensus top-five team that had taken over the No. 1 ranking in some corners after beating Louisville Iroquois.

Massac fell 61-44, trailing by just 10 points going into the fourth quarter. That's a good sign that new coach Keith Shelton is starting to develop a team that could once again be a threat to make the Class 2A state tournament.

• If the seedings hold, Friday night's semifinals at the Superman Classic could be a must-see doubleheader. Massac County will go for a 20-0 mark against Carbondale and the other semifinal could match up Paducah Tilghman and Belleville Althoff.

Tilghman does have a potentially tough opener on Tuesday. Murphysboro recently got eligibility rulings on two transfers from Carbondale, and both are averaging in double figures.