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Tournament time
Lowellville and Ursuline among top seeds
BEAVER TWP.
First-year Ursuline girls basketball coach Courtney Davidson knows what a postseason tournament is all about.
In 2004, she was a senior guard on the Fighting Irish team that won the Division III state championship over Oak Hill.
On Sunday, Davidson joined other coaches from the area at South Range High School where sectional tournament brackets were drawn. So for her, it was a new taste of the playoff season.
“The meetings are interesting,” she said. “It’s kind of cool seeing where we end up, first-hand.”
And for Ursuline (12-5) — that’s as the No. 1 seed in the D-III tournament held at Mineral Ridge. The Irish chose to have a first-round bye and will face the winner of LaBrae against East Palestine.
United (14-3) — the Inter-Tri County League Tier One champions, Pymatuming Valley (15-2) and Newton Falls (12-6) are two, three and four seeds, respectively.
The anticipation of the second season has Davidson fired up, but she’d much rather experience it from the bench, rather than the court. Still, she feels her past success will make it easier to motivate her team.
“I’m done playing,” Davisdon said with a laugh. “It’s easier to translate over to the girls how great it feels to have a deep tournament run and pick up some good wins.”
Lowellville (14-2) was voted as the top seed in the D-IV bracket that will be at South Range. The Rockets will play right away taking on Sebring (3-14). The winner of that game will play Heartland Christian (2-14).
“The tournament is a different bird,” said Lowellville coach Tony Matisi. “It gets everybody’s juices flowing, the girls especially. Every team is ready to play.”
Western Reserve (14-2) earned the No. 2 seed with Crestview (13-5) and Lisbon (10-7) following at three and four.
This year’s goals are no different than past years for Matisi.
“I think it’s always our year,” he said. “We’ve had to deal with injuries for the past two or three years. We just hope that we can stay healthy and that we can go in with all our guns. If we work hard and play hard — I’ll be happy.”
Ravenna is the No. 1 seed at the Div. II tournament at Austintown Fitch. West Branch (15-1) is No. 2, Struthers (15-1) is No. 3 and Canfield (9-6) is No. 4. The Warriors play Hubbard, the Wildcats take on Salem and the Cardinals face Streetsboro.
In the D-IV tournament hosted by Rootstown, Maplewood (15-2) will face the winner of Ledgemont (9-9) and McDonald (8-9) and Lordstown(14-5) will play the winner of Warren JFK (9-8) and Newbury.
Lakeview (12-4) will face Painesville Harvey in the Division II tournament hosted by Pymatuning Valley. The Bulldogs currently are in first place of the AAC National Division.
Howland (14-1) earned a three seed in the D-I tournament at Akron Ellet. The AAC American Division leaders play Kent Roosevelt. The winner will face Warren Harding (11-5) in round two. Boardman (3-15) takes on Twinsburg, the No. 1 seed (and defending state champion) with the winner playing East (6-8). Fitch (10-6) faces the winner of Walsh and Aurora.
Beaver Local (5-12) and East Liverpool (11-5) will play Dresden Tri-Valley and Carrollton, respectively, in the Zanesville Division II bracket.