CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Clarksville Academy boys’ and girls’ basketball will continue to make a postseason this week as regional play kicks off.
The Lady Cougars are coming off a four-point loss in the district championship to Nashville Christian. Clarksville Academy girls’ basketball defeated the likes of Davidson Academy and Ezell Harding Christian to advance to the championship game.
After the contest, awards were given out including Lady Cougars guard Atyia Moss being named regular season District MVP. Shinae Johnson and Savannah Prather were both named to the All-District team, as well as the All-Tournament team.
Coaches corner
Even with the loss in the district championship, Clarksville Academy Head Coach Charles Clark feels that the girls team can use the loss to their advantage.
“The hunger will never go away,” said Clark. “After we lost, I told my assistant coaches, ‘Knock on wood but we’ve been pretty good after we’ve lost a game. We’ve been able to refocus, and we’ve been able to bounce back.’ Just like we take 24 hours to celebrate a win, we took 24 hours to let that loss settle in, and now we’re moving on. But I do think the loss will help us focus for this next round of games, and it could be a positive in the end.”
The Lady Cougars will host Providence Christian Academy at home on Tuesday in an elimination game. This will be there first time facing off this season, but Clark and Clarksville Academy are very familiar with Lions basketball program.
“The team we’ll be playing against shoots the ball really well, so we need to prepare ourselves to defend the three,” said Clark. “They push the ball, their physical, and we’ve probably only faced one other team that plays like this.
“However, we’ve played a variety of teams that bring everything this team has if that makes sense. So, we’ve really kind of seen it, just not in this game. We’ll be prepared, it’s a home game and another opportunity to play together. This is a group who has gotten closer as the season has progressed, and it’s a do or die game where you have to survive to advance. That should serve as enough motivation, but we need to make sure we’re locked in and follow our scouting reports.”
Clarksville Academy boys’ basketball
As for the Clarksville Academy boys’ basketball team, they suffered a defeat early on in the district tournament against Davidson Academy. The loss knocked them out of contention for the district championship.
Nevertheless, they played for third place against Friendship Christian and dominated their opponent 68-46.
Following the win, Eddie Ricks III and Jacques Wyatt were both named to the All-District team. Also, Ricks was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Cougars will travel to Columbia Academy to take on the Bulldogs during the first round of regional play on Wednesday. The winner of the game advances and the loser’s season comes to an end.
According to Max Preps, Clarksville Academy faced Columbia Academy twice last year and the two sides split the series matchup. The Cougars won when they needed to most, however. During their state tournament run last year, they defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 56-42.