Basketball happenings ...

The first Cantrall ratings of the season were published in Monday's Lexington Herald-Leader, and there were a couple of surprises on the girls' side. Calloway County is ranked ninth and Murray is ranked 17th, the first time in several years — perhaps a decade or longer — that the First Region has had two schools ranked in the top 20.

The Cantralls don't count out-of-state games, so Murray's two early-season hiccups against two Tennesee clubs — nearby Henry County and defending private-school state champion Ensworth — don't figure into the equation. Neither does Calloway's two wins over Martin Westview (a final four team in Tennessee Class 2A a year ago) and the solid 2-1 performance at a tournament in Orlando last week.

Murray and Calloway meet for the first time on Jan. 14, which could be the first of four meetings this season.

Paducah Tilghman was the First Region's top team in the rankings and tied for 32nd overall with Louisville Western.

• Marshall County point guard Margaret Thomas is expected to make her debut on Tuesday night against Lone Oak and potentially see major minutes when the Lady Marshals host Calloway County on Friday night.

Thomas, a Paducah Sun All-Purchase selection a year ago, originally opted not to play this season, reportedly because she was upset that Marshall assistant Aaron Beth didn't get the head coaching job this summer after the retirement of his father, Howard Beth.

She changed her mind after the Lady Marshals played their first two games in Marshall County's Hoop Fest, but Marshall coach Joseph Simmons decreed that Thomas would have to practice with the team for a few weeks before being eligible to play.

• As one All-Purchase player rejoins the regional ranks, another of the area's most dynamic guards is sidelined for the rest of the season. Paducah Tilghman playmaker Chelsey Shumpert, a sophomore who had a chance to become a four-time All-Purchase pick, has a torn ACL in her right knee and is out for the remainder of the season.

Shumpert will do some rehabilitation work and have surgery within a few weeks. She originally tweaked the knee while playing AAU ball this summer, but the injury was diagnosed at the time as a strained ligament. She went down in the second quarter of Tilghman's Dec. 18 game with Lone Oak, but the torn ACL wasn't diagnosed until nearly a week later, after the Lady Tornado returned from playing in the Kenton County Classic in northern Kentucky.

• The All A Classic First Region tournament will be seeded via the first batch of Litkenhous Ratings, which will be released this week in the Louisville Courier-Journal. The boys' ratings will be published on Tuesday with the girls' ratings set for release on Friday.