All four Putnam County girl's basketball teams will look to cut down the nets at the Greencastle Sectional 44 Tournament, which kicks off Tuesday evening. 

Host Greencastle, who brought an 18-4 record into last night's regular season finale, opens the sectional on its home floor at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Southmont, who is 11-9 heading into tonight's season finale. 

The two teams met in the season opener, with Southmont posting a 40-37 victory. 

"Southmont is a good team. They have a veteran coach and a solid six players," Greencastle head coach Doug Greenlee told The Putnam County Post. 

For the Tiger Cubs, Greenlee said he has three players who are averaging double figures in seniors Gloria Brewer and Emma Hunter and junior Evie Briones. 

"Gloria Brewer, Emma Hunter and Evie Briones have provided us a solid scoring trio," Greenlee said. 

The winner of the sectional opener between Greencastle and Southmont will advance to semi-final on Feb. 3 against Cloverdale, who is 2-21. 

"Up to this point, we have had a great season. We need to finish strong, and the team is focused on that," Greenlee said. 

What will it take for Greencastle to cut down the nets on its home floor? 

"We have to be strong on defense, creating scoring opportunities off of steals and defensive rebounds.  We will need three solid games. Everyone starts 0-0 in the second season.  We are looking forward to the challenge," he said. 

As for Cloverdale, it has been a rough season for the Clovers, who are averaging just under 27 points per game. 

Despite the record, head coach J.J. Wade welcomes the challenge.

"Always unique in Indiana that when the draw happens. Everyone is 0-0.  Getting the bye game is rarely ever a bad thing.  It gives us more time to prepare and heal up and gives our young squad a chance to see some of the tournament play out before we have to play," Wade told The Putnam County Post.

Wade said Cloverdale has had several players play well at times this season. 

"It has been an up and down season but that was to be expected with so many freshmen playing so many minutes.  We have improved and grown and are still learning each time out.  Although our record is not what we wanted, we knew this season would be a journey for us and had a goal of getting better each day and for the most part we have done that.  We have played some competitive basketball of late and are hoping to put it all together as we play in the tourney," Wade said.

He admits Sectional 44 is filled with some "really great teams."

"It is difficult to win a sectional in any year.  There are always the mainstays of playing solid defense, rebounding, and taking care of the basketball.  Those things combined with relentless effort are what we will focus on next week if we want to be competitive," Wade said.

Wednesday night belongs to South Putnam and North Putnam. 

The Eagles of South Putnam will open sectional play at 6 p.m. against Riverton Parke. 

The two teams met in January with Riverton Parke earning a 40-25 win. 

As for North Putnam, they will entertain Parke Heritage at the conclusion of South Putnam vs. Riverton Parke. 

North Putnam closed out the regular season with a 10-12 mark in Craig Franklin's first season, but the Cougars dropped five of their last six games to end the season. 

Parke Heritage, who was 17-5 heading into last night's regular season finale, earned a 62-36 win over the Cougars earlier this season. 

The winners of Wednesday's games will play at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 with the final slated for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 4. 

GIANT fm Sports on WREB will broadcast each game involving a Putnam County school during the sectional tournament. 

The Indiana High School Athletic Association will broadcast the 48th Annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Tournament Pairings Show Sunday at 5 p.m.

The two-hour show will be hosted by Bob Lovell and Greg Rakestraw and streamed exclusively on IHSAAtv.org.

Complete pairings will be available at IHSAA.org following the broadcast.

Class 2A, Sectional 44 at Greencastle

The McAnally Center at Greencastle High School will serve as the host site for 2A Sectional 44.

Greencastle (16-4) will compete against North Putnam (9-9), South Putnam (6-13), Cloverdale (1-19), Riverton Parke (8-9), Southmont (9-9) and Parke Heritage (15-5).

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In its first meeting of the new calendar year, the IHSAA Executive Committee voted to change the Boys and Girls Cross Country State Tournaments from a four week format to a three week format.

The decision was one of three rules.

proposals acted upon after being formally presented last month by the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (IATCCC).

By an 11-6 vote, next fall’s state tournaments will be contested on three consecutive Saturdays and begin one week later than previously scheduled. Next season’s sectionals will now be on Saturday, Oct. 14, regionals on Saturday, Oct. 21, and the state finals on the same previously scheduled date of Saturday, Oct. 28.

Since 2014, the cross country tournaments had been run on four consecutive Saturdays with sectionals, regionals, semi-states and state finals. The new format calls for 25 sectionals and five regionals feeding into the state finals while eliminating the semi-state round. The top five teams and top 15 individuals not on a qualifying team will advance from each round to the next. Host sites and sectional assignments will be announced this summer.

“Today was a culmination of several years of discussion around issues within the cross country tournaments,” said Commissioner Paul Neidig. “The three-week tournament will provide more balance at the sectional level, resulting in a more competitive state tournament. The new format will advance 42 additional runners in each race at the state finals. We greatly appreciate the partnership with the state coaches association in developing this new format.”

Two other proposals from the coaches association were unanimously approved including awarding medals to the top 25 finishers in both state meets and creating a common track entry platform that all meets must use throughout the season.

The head coach of the state's second-ranked 2A boys basketball team has been arrested.

Linton-Stockton head coach Joey Hart was charged with public intoxication after being arrested by the Clay County Sheriff's Department early Saturday morning. Hart was found unconcious in his car near Coalmont in the 4 a.m. hour Saturday. He was initially held on $3,000 bond.

After serving as head coach at Shakamak and Turkey Run, Hart has been head coach at Linton-Stockton since 2011.  He's posted a 258-72 mark at the school and recently won his 400th game as a head coach in a double-overtime vistory over Evansville Harrison. 

The Miners (10-1) were coming off four wins and the First Financial Bank Wabash Valley Classic championship in Terre Haute.

Hoosier Basketball Magazine, in its 53rd year, presents an annual comprehensive survey of all high school (boys and girls), college (men and women) and professional (Pacers and Fever) basketball in Indiana.

The 2022-23 issue of Hoosier Basketball Magazine can be ordered now by mail. The website is at www.hoosierbasketball- magazine.com or call/text 317-925-8200.

Twelve high school seniors are featured on Hoosier Basketball's front cover, six boys and six girls. The boys pictured in the middle are Xavier Booker (Indianapolis Cathedral), Markus Burton (Penn), Myles Colvin (Heritage Christian), Joey Hart (Linton-Stockton), Logan Imes (Zionsville), JQ Roberts (Bloomington North). The featured girls front and center are Ashlynn Brooke (Pioneer), Laila Hull (Zionsville), McKenna Layden (Northwestern), Riley Makalusky (Hamilton Southeastern), Karsyn Norman (Bedford North Lawrence), Amiyah Reynolds (South Bend Washington).

Eighteen more boys and girls are pictured on the magazine’s front cover. Photos of boys include Joey Brown (North Central-Marion), Ahmere Carson (Anderson), Jermaine Coleman (Park Tudor), AJ Dancler (Southport), Zane Doughty (Ben Davis), Mason Jones (Valparaiso), Sam Orme (Carmel), Ashton Williamson (Gary 21st Century). Senior girls gracing the cover are Asia Donald (Hobart), Nevaeh Foster (Mishawaka Marian), Rashunda Jones (South Bend Washington), Renna Schwieterman (Jay County), Hailey and Olivia Smith (Fishers), Saige Stahl (Columbus East), Bailey Tabeling (Trinity Lutheran), Josie Trabel (East Central), Amber Tretter (Forest Park).

Five college players are pictured on the front cover including Zach Edey (Purdue), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana), Cooper Neese (Indiana State), Payton Sparks (Ball State) and Grace Berger (Indiana women).

The Indiana Pacer pictured this season is Tyrese Haliburton.

There are three high school players that appear with action pictures on the table of contents page. The featured players are Jaxson Gould from Warsaw, Flory Bidunga from Kokomo and Jaylen Mullen from North Daviess.

The 2022-23 edition can be ordered by mail now by e-mailing hoosierbbllmag@att.net or you can call/text (317) 925-8200. Newsstand locations such as Barnes & Noble, CVS, Kroger, Martin’s Supermarket, Meijer, Wal-mart and Walgreens will have copies later in the month of January.

Call 317-925-8200 to find a Hoosier Basketball Magazine in your part of the state.