With the great turnout and the proclamation of the city, Owensboro Dust Bowl’s 48th tournament is over for the weekend, however, this has been one shorter than the rest and came with a few changes.
Dust Bowl President Byron Owen said this year included a delayed play schedule and dual-court play which lead to twice as many games going on at the same time, except for the championship games on Saturday. Owen said this system was harder to do with the little number of volunteers they had on their team.
“Lot of people see the end result but there’s not as many that help,” Owen said.
Nonetheless, the tournament ended with six winners across the divisions. The Championship games went as follows:
7th & 8th Grade Girls: Western Ballhogs, 43 – J’s Good Grub, 33
7th & 8th Grade Boys: Big Game Hunters, 44 – Western Kentucky Elite, 42
Boy’s JV: Eyer Coin Laundry, 57 – F.O.E. (Family Over Everything), 26
High School Boys: Ballers, 82 – Tri-State Superstars, 51
Men’s 35 and older: Owensboro Stars, 44 – Tri-State Greats, 39
Men’s Open: ATA, 59 – Big Game Hunters, 55
Heading into the first game on Saturday, Western Ballhogs’ Coach Edwin Carter said his team had games earlier in the day, but they were most excited for the Dust Bowl. Luckily, their Saturday was full of wins, winning their Dust Bowl match and their earlier games.
Carter said preparing for the tournament was very different from typical indoor games. The preparation ended up paying off as the team had a commanding lead over Jay’s Good Grub for most of the game.
He found his team succeeding well and his rotation playing a part in that as he would call girls in and out of the game. The chemistry between his players he thinks is the best asset for his team in the tournament adding that if all the girls attended the same school, they would have won a championship for the school.
“Sometimes I don’t even have to coach, because they play so well together,” Carter said.
While the tournament ended swiftly, Owen said the turnout for the tournament was great and the shortened format and dual-format could be something to look at in the future.
