The Pressbox

I helped the Monroe Evening News kick off its live chat feature Sunday night with a discussion of girls basketball in the county.

And the chat was lively.

My boss, Ron Montri, takes his turn this Sunday with a discussion on boys basketball. It will begin at 8 p.m. Watch for details in the next few days in The Evening News sports section or at www.monroenews.com .

I saw two girls basketball games in the same gymnasium Monday night, but you would have thought they were being played in different universes.

When Airport and Adrian tipped off around 5:30 p.m. in the Class A District Tournament at Monroe, there were maybe 100 people in Bill Bunkelman Memorial Gymnasium, including the players, coaches and officials.

By the time Monroe and Bedford took the floor around 7 p.m., the place was nearly full. It was a great atmosphere with enthusiastic fans on both sides really getting into the action.

These two teams deserved a big crowd. Bedford brought a 20-0 record into the game and Monroe was 17-3 with all three losses coming to state-ranked teams.

The game turned out to be pretty much what I expected. Both teams played terrific defense, contesting every point.

It’s a shame that this wasn’t the District championship game on a Friday night. It might have drawn even more fans then. But that’s just the luck of the draw.

Monroe came up on the short end of the scoreboard, but the Trojans have nothing to hang their heads about. They represented their school and their community well all season.