Hoop musings ... girls

At first glance, and at the second and third glance, this year's First Region girls' basketball race appears to be as wide-open and entertaining as ever.

Five teams figure to have legitimate shots at a regional title in March, and there looks to be one or two other teams good enough to knock off the top five, although two of the top half-dozen teams will be on the sidelines for the regional tournament.

That's because the Fourth District is as balanced as its ever been, something Murray coach Rechelle Turner correctly noted after the Lady Tigers held off district rival Community Christian on Tuesday night. And each contender has some legitimate question marks.

Calloway County has multi-faceted star Averee Fields, but she has a sophomore-laden supporting cast that needs to provide some consistent scoring punch.

Murray has three tough matchups in Haley Armstrong, Shelby Crouch and Janssen Starks, but all three are underclassmen and have yet to really experience what March is all about.

Paducah Tilghman has two of the region's top 10 players in Chelsey Shumpert and Brandy Allen and the quickest, most athletic team in the region, but can't put much more firepower on the floor.

Ballard Memorial has three capable scorers in Abby Shelley, Candace Bryant and Tiffani Hatley, but starts two freshmen in the backcourt and backs them up with an eighth grader. That inexperience makes one wonder if they can pull back the reins when needed — the Lady Bombers sometimes get a little too hectic in their fullcourt style.

And there is perennial power Marshall County, which lacks a proven scorer and has all sorts of problems putting up points against quality competition.

We can't forget Community Christian, which has a pair of fine players in Bonnie Durrett and Cari McMullen but no depth, and Graves County, which stunned Ballard on the road last weekend.

• The seedings for the All A Classic girls' First Region tournament will be determined by the Litkenhous Ratings, which will be released either Thursday or Friday. Look for Murray to get the top seed, followed by Ballard Memorial and Community Christian, not necessarily in that order. Heath appears to have a shot at the No. 4 seed.

Caldwell County looks like the favorite in the Second Region and seeks to make the state tournament for the second consecutive year.

• The First Region champion has as good a draw as it could hope for in the state tournament, with two very winnable games before a potential semifinal meeting with either Newport Catholic or Green County, which has beaten Ballard in the quarterfinals in each of the last two years.

If Caldwell wins the Second Region title, it would face a potentially very tough game against the Ninth Region champion — Newport Catholic is the heavy favorite there.