Girls part of Lions Club tournament again
The King Coal Lions鈥� Christmas Tournament has been a basketball staple at Carmichaels Area High School for decades, but this year鈥檚 edition added something that had been missing for quite awhile.
There is a girls bracket included in addition to the boys for the first time in 40 years.
鈥淭he Lions Club wanted to have both boys and girls for the past several years but always ran into problems scheduling it,鈥� Carmichaels athletic director John Krajnak said. 鈥淔ortunately, local teams showed an interest and made it possible.鈥�
The 2018 tournament had a four-game slate on Thursday night that intertwined the boys and girls games.
The host Lady Mikes were scheduled to play Jefferson-Morgan at 1 p.m. with Carmichaels boys hosting Mapletown at 3 p.m. That was to be followed by Waynesburg Central vs. Geibel Catholic girls at 5:30 p.m. and Beth-Center vs. Geibel Catholic boys at 7:30 p.m.
The schedule for today has the girls consolation game at 1 p.m., the boys consolation game at 3 p.m., the girls championship game at 5:30 p.m. and the boys championship game at 7:30 p.m.
All tickets are $5 and all proceeds benefit the Lions Club in helping the blind.
Mikes coach Don Williams is always happy to participate in the tournament.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice thing they do every year, it鈥檚 great for the community and we鈥檙e always glad to take part in it,鈥� Williams said.
The Mikes are the defending tournament champion having defeated Beth-Center in last year鈥檚 championship game. It was the fourth straight year the two met in the final and broke the Bulldogs鈥� string of three tournament titles in a row.
Carmichaels participated in Geibel Catholic鈥檚 Tip-Off Tournament to begin this season on Dec. 7-8, and the Mikes beat Turkeyfoot Valley in the first round and the Gators in that championship game.