[Stardust]

http://glasgowdailytimes.com/sports/x471...een-County

GLASGOW — The Caverna Lady Colonels have been a bit of a mystery this season. Coach Cornelius Faulkner has seen his team play very well some nights and he has seen his team not play so well.

That inconsistency has troubled Faulkner because he believes his team is playing well, but not producing the wins. And as the Lady Colonels prepare for next week’s Girls’ District 18 Basketball Tournament at Green County High School, Faulkner believes the tournament is up for grabs.

“I think we’re actually playing a little ahead of where I thought we would be at this time of the year,” Faulkner said.

“We don’t have the number of wins we would like to have, but we’ve played Glasgow and Bowling Green, two of the top three teams in our region, and we played John Hardin, one of the top teams in the fifth region. Even though we didn’t win those games, we showed spurts of getting done what we wanted to do.”

The Lady Colonels will open the tournament on Monday when they play No. 1 seed Green County. The Lady Dragons are led by Western Kentucky University signee Micah Jones.

“And over the last few games, we haven’t worried about wins and losses, we’ve concentrated on preparing ourselves for the district tournament,” Faulkner explained. “The great thing about playing teams like Glasgow and Bowling Green is you can simulate what it will be like going against Green County’s Micah Jones.”

Faulkner gave Green County the credit it deserves and said the Lady Dragons should be the No. 1 seed. However, the veteran coach never said they couldn’t be beat.

“Overall, in the 18th district, Green County has won out, but I think this tournament is wide open,” said Faulkner. “We’re clearly the underdog, but we have a shot for an upset in the first round.

“I don’t mind being the underdog. No one is expecting us to be able to compete. But if we cut down on the mistakes, we can compete with anyone. We have experience, but we’re still young.

Faulkner said the key to stopping Green County centers around Jones. Opposing coaches will either choose to stop Jones completely, or try to stop the other four players on the floor.

“I am sure they will run what they’ve done in the past, but we’ve put in a whole new offense to run against Green County,” Faulkner said.

“Anytime we play Green County, we want to limit what Jones does. You’re not going to stop her. So if we guard everyone else, she’s not going to beat us by herself. Their confidence level will be very high, I am sure, but I don’t know if they will be ready for some of the things we’re going to do.

“A win would be a big boost of confidence we’ve been needing for a while. A win against a team like Green County would be big for the development of these girls and this program.”