The Cookeville Lady Cavaliers begin regional tournament play Friday.
They will face off against the top seed from District Eight after losing in the District 7AAAA Finals Monday night against Lebanon. The loss marks the second time in three matchups the Lady Cavaliers lost to Lebanon, with both instances occurring at Lebanon. Cookeville Head Coach Jamie Gillies said she believes in her defense in how good that part of her team is every night.
“We worked on some different looks and kind of get Callie Reeder some looks inside.” Gillies said. “One thing that we do really well is we press and turn our defense into offense so we want to be able to get some transition points and be able to get in our press and get some easy buckets.”
Gillies sports a Cookeville defense that has allowed 45 points or fewer in four straight games. Cookeville will look to continue its season Friday night at home in the first round of the regional tournament.
“There’s not really anything a whole lot different from what we’ll do.” Gillies said. “We have a formula that works and we plan to stick with it.”
Gillies said if her Lady Cavaliers can work inside to get easy buckets, it can lead to getting more shots outside as well.
“We talk all the time about our culture and about how we want to do the little things and be that team that is resilient and never gives up.” Gillies said.
Cookeville finishes district play 20-7 and 9-2 in the district. In their seven losses, the Lady Cavaliers have lost by less than ten points in all but one of their defeats.
Cookeville will enter regional play as the number two seed after losing to Lebanon Monday night 46-45.
