Both the girls’ and boys’ basketball state tournaments have been suspended indefinitely, as announced by the KHSAA early Thursday afternoon. According to a press release, KHSAA will try and seek options for rescheduling later in the spring.
Owensboro Catholic athletic director Jason Morris told Owensboro Times the school was contacted by the KHSAA to inform them of the decision to suspend both tournaments. Morris said he was not told when or if the tournaments would resume.
The Catholic girls’ team was scheduled to play tonight in first round of the Mingua Beef Jerky Girls Sweet 16. They will not play and are returning home.
The boys’ team was scheduled to play next Thursday in the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys Sweet 16.
KHSAA released the following statement:
Based on additional information and guidance from both the Kentucky Department of Education and the Governor’s office in the last hour, at this time, the girls’ state tournament is postponed indefinitely effective with the conclusion of game five. Next week’s boys’ basketball tournament is also postponed indefinitely. The Association will try and seek options for rescheduling later in the spring if at all possible, but not until after we have received collaborative approval from our Governor’s office, the Commissioner of Public Health and the Kentucky Department of Education.
As has been stated for the last two weeks, the situation with the COVID-19 or Coronavirus is extremely fluid. As announced earlier today, our intention was to attempt to complete this first tournament with restrictions, however, this does not appear to be a wise option at this time and is not in the best interest of the student-athletes and the thousands of individuals who attend these events. The KHSAA has to make the health and welfare of the citizens of our great Commonwealth the primary factor in our decision-making process in dealing with this issue.
We are hopeful that with all of the collaborative efforts of the citizens of our Commonwealth, we see this situation subside very quickly, and we have to be leaders in that journey. We also encourage all Kentucky citizens to pay close attention to the CDC and Kentucky health information at kycovid19.ky.gov and strictly adhere to those CDC guidelines, which are always subject to revision as we learn more about the virus.
Announcements will be coming later today regarding refund options for tickets that were purchased as well as other logistics and information for fans.
Roughly two hours before the suspension was announced, KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said an “extreme limit” was being placed on who could attend the remainder of the games at both tournaments.
This story will be updated as more info become available.
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