Four area teams get top seeds
Canfield, South Range, Maplewood and McDonald all were No. 1 seeds.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
Four area teams were voted No. 1 seeds for the upcoming girls high school basketball tournaments, scheduled to begin Feb. 9 at eight sites around Northeast Ohio.
Canfield (Division II), South Range (Div. III), Maplewood (Div. III) and McDonald (Div. IV) were accorded the top seeds at their respective draws Sunday.
All the tournament brackets for tournaments in the Northeast District of the OHSAA were held Sunday at Copley High School.
The boys draws will be conducted next Sunday, also at Copley.
Canfield is the top seed at the Div. II district tournament at Fitch High. The Cardinals, who have a first-round bye, were joined as seeds by Southeast, Liberty and Salem.
South Range is the top seed in the Div. III tournament at Mineral Ridge High. The Raiders will play rival Springfield in a first-round game. Rootstown, Ursuline and United picked up the other seeds.
Maplewood will travel to Lakeside High in Ashtabula for its district games. The unbeaten Rockets play Grand Valley in a first-round game.
McDonald was joined as top seeds by Leetonia, Sebring and Lowellville at the Div. IV district at Hubbard High.
Other area teams to pick up seeds were Boardman (No. 3 at Alliance) and Howland (No. 3 at Solon) in Div. I, and West Branch (No. 4 at Massillon) in Div. II.
This year all the teams were seeded and their chance to go on the bracket was in order of their seed. Previously, only two or four teams were seeded and the remainder of the teams picked their order out of chance. Teams voted as one of the top four seeds had the option of passing.
Canfield coach Pat Pavlansky spoke for many coaches in favor of the new format.
“Seeding everybody is very fair,” he said following the Div. II draw. “It makes for a better tournament.”
In some instances in a tough bracket a good team might miss out being a seed, yet draw a very low number and be forced to play one of the top seeds. This format makes that chance very remote.
“It’s fairer for everybody,” said Pavlansky.
The tournament will continue until four state champions are crowned at Value City Arena in Columbus March 6-8.