The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Seeds planted; almost time for postseason
The voters have spoken.
No, not at the Iowa caucus or the Senate hearings.
The voters in the statewide girls basketball tournament brackets have spoken
— i.e. the coaches.
On a local level, there were some interesting — and we’re taking the high road here — voting practices. North getting voted No. 2 during the seeding process by a team that beat them twice this year and Gilmour being seeded sixth despite beating two of the teams ahead of them rank up there.
But when it comes to the Division IV sectional-district in Orwell, you’d swear Cornerstone Christian pulling the No. 2 seed despite having virtually everyone back from a state final four team a year ago was a spoof.
With all due respect to Maplewood, which was voted the top seed, Cornerstone
annihilated the district competition last year, including a 57-14 spanking of Maplewood — despite not having Madison Cloonan (who was injured). Well, Cloonan is healthy this year and so are the rest of the Patriots, so ...
If you combined the talent on the rest of the teams in the Orwell District, could Cornerstone still advance to the regional tournament? The answer is a definitive, “maybe.”
That’s why the voting was such a laugher.
In any case, here’s a look at the upcoming tournament sectional-districts, as well as a potential forecast.
Division I
At Perry
TOP SEEDS >> 1, North; 2, Cleveland Heights; 3, Brush; 4, Mentor
FAVORITE >> North
DARKHORSE >> Mentor
DON’T FORGET ABOUT >> Cleveland Heights
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME >> (11) Riverside at (6) Mayfield, especially after seeing the Beavers’ recent 17-point win over fifthseeded Chardon.
FOR THE RECORD >> First of all, it’s surprising North wasn’t the unanimous No. 1 seed seeing that the Rangers are 13-0 against teams in this sectional-district. Their only losses are to Canton McKinley and Canton GlenOak. Destiny Leo is a 2,000-point career scorer, Abby Carter is a 1,000-point career scorer, Coach Paul Force just won his 200th career game and the Rangers are the defending district champions.
That being said, there are potential pitfalls. Cleveland Heights is 17-3 and plays a tough schedule, Brush played North close (66-65) earlier this season before getting drilled, 59-36, in the rematch, and Mentor plays in the rugged Greater Cleveland Conference, so its record (12-7) might not be indicative of how good it is.
The ultimate unequalizer is Leo. The Cleveland State recruit averages an area-best 25 points per game, but if/when help defense comes up on her, she’s good and smart enough to know where that help came from and get the ball to the open teammate. She beats you in more ways that scoring.
Division II
at Lakeside
TOP SEEDS >> 1, West Geauga; 2, Perry; 3, Geneva; 4, NDCL
FAVORITE >> West Geauga
DARKHORSE >> Gilmour
DON’T FORGET ABOUT >> Perry
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME >> None are all that great, but we’ll go with (9) Glenville at (8) Harvey.
FOR THE RECORD >> This tournament could probably be won by any one of five teams. Secondly, that Gilmour got the sixth seed despite having wins against two teams seeded ahead of them is silly. The Lancers probably play the toughest schedule in the Lakeside field and are underseeded, which is probably fine with Coach Julie Solis, who will use that as motivation.
West Geauga is 18-2 and is 8-1 against the tournament field, the lone loss being to NDCL, which we’ll get to in a moment. The Wolverines are tall, long and athletic. They are a tough matchup against a field that doesn’t have those same attributes.
It’s hard to put Perry in the “Don’t forget about” slot because — hey — don’t forget that the Pirates were the district champion last year, and the only real reason they aren’t the top seed is they lost to West Geauga, 42-38, on a night neither team could have thrown the ball in Lake Erie from the shoreline.
NDCL is very dangerous, so sleeping on the Lions is not a good idea. The potential NDCL-West G district semi is a rematch of an early season game won by the Lions, 50-36.
Gilmour is a six-seed that no one is going to want to play. The Lancers have a losing record, but that schedule is brutal. That potential sectional final between Gilmour and Geneva (the Eagles won an early-season game) is going to be tremendous.
Is it out of the question for Gilmour to get out of this district to regional? Nope.
Division II
at Nordonia
TOP SEEDS >> 1, Laurel; 2, CVCA; 3, Cleveland Central Catholic; 4, Akron SVSM
FAVORITE >> Laurel
DARKHORSE/DON’T FORGET ABOUT >> Everyone else
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME >> (9) Trinity at (8) Chagrin Falls
FOR THE RECORD >> As it was last year, this tournament field is scary deep and loaded compared to the one at Lakeside, with all due respect to that field. Chagrin Falls is 14-6 — and the Tigers are the eighth seed. Gulp.
In short, Laurel has the best team in the field and it will probably take a combination of (a) Laurel playing less than its best game, and (b) their opponent playing their best to pull the upset.
Laurel’s only losses are to Pickerington Central, Gahanna Lincoln and Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, none of which they’ll see on the tournament trail as all are Division I.
If there is a potential upset involving a local team, it might be fifthseeded Beaumont against fourth-seeded Akron SVSM in the sectional finals. The Blue Streaks play a tough schedule (hence their 10-9 record) and already beat SVSM earlier this year. Beaumont is upand-down, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to see Coach Derrick Russell’s team in the district semis.
Of course, that would mean a rematch with Laurel, who won the regularseason bout, 79-39.
Division III
at Lakeview
TOP SEEDS >> 1, Champion; 2, Garrettsville; 3, Kirtland; 4, LaBrae
FAVORITE >> Champion
DARK HORSE >> Kirtland
DON’T FORGET ABOUT >> Garrettsville
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME >> (11) Conneaut at (6) Berkshire
FOR THE RECORD >> It’s not a huge surprise Champion (17-3) got the top overall seed, especially since two of the wins were lopsided ones over fourth-seeded
LaBrae.
But third-seeded Kirtland (15-4) is pretty scary. Under first-year coach Brittany Zele, the Hornets give up only about 34 points per game. Julia Camino, Lauren Snyder et al are tournament tested and have wins over D-I Chardon and D-II Chagrin Falls.
Division IV
at Grand Valley
TOP SEEDS >> 1, Maplewood; 2, Cornerstone Christian; 3, Andrews Osborne; 4, Bristol
FAVORITE >> Cornerstone
DARK HORSE/DON’T FORGET ABOUT >> N/A
BEST FIRST-ROUND GAME >> (10) Newbury at (7) St. John
FOR THE RECORD >> This district is the poster child for why the state might need to go back to voting/seed meetings being in person. When the question arises, “Why did you vote (so and so) for the top seed, the only viable response is “Because they’re the best team here.”
Cornerstone — despite being the two-seed — is that.
CCA’s only losses are to potential D-II state champion Laurel, potential DIII state champion Berlin Hiland, two of the top 10 teams in Florida and a top-ten team in Pennsylvania. If anybody stays within 20 of Cornerstone in this tournament, it’s a victory for the other team.
Two nice feel-good stories in this tournament are Newbury, playing in its final tournament before the school merges with West Geauga next year, and Fairport, having a resurgence behind guard Kara McFadden and forward Olivia Eldridge.
Kudos to Newbury coaches Kevin and Carrie Hinkle for the season they’ve put together, as well as Fairport coach Ed Reed, for solid seasons to this point.