Top-seeded Lady Dragons open area tournament Thursday against West Creek

Dickson Middle School heads into the Class AAA Area basketball tournament at New Providence with the Lady Dragons playing Thursday and the Dragons playing Monday. The Lady Dragons are the number one seed and face eighth-seed West Creek at 3:30 pm Thursday, followed by the three other girls’ quarterfinals. In their two meetings this season, the Lady Dragons clobbered West Creek by 46 and 43 points. The Lady Dragons have beaten every team in the tournament twice and the only team not to have been beaten by at least 35 points is second-seeded Rossview, which the Lady Dragons beat by 10 and eight points. The boys’ quarterfinal games are Monday with sixth-seed Dickson facing third-seeded Northeast. The two teams split in the regular season with each winning at home, Northeast by seven and Dickson by one Tuesday night. The Dragons are 5-9 against the other tournament teams. The semifinal games are slated for Tuesday and the consolation and championship games will be played Jan. 31.