MVAC members Garfield, Waterloo snag two seeds in girls basketball tournament
Portage County's Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference members, Garfield and Waterloo, earned a pair of two seeds Saturday in the upcoming girls basketball tournament. (Brackets are expected to be announced throughout the day Sunday.)
The G-Men, who currently sit atop the Gray Tier and are 16-1 overall, were seeded second out of 23 teams in Division III East as they chase their third straight district championship. In a testament to the strength of their new conference, three MVAC Gray teams (Garfield, Crestview and Brookfield) earned top-five seeds in Division III East. (The G-Men are set to face both the Rebels and the Warriors in the coming weeks as they look to secure the league title, with the Rebels also holding a single league loss.) Rootstown, which has compiled 13 wins (including a 6-0 mark in the Portage Trail Conference with two league games remaining), earned the eighth seed in Division III East, while Southeast, which also has 13 wins, got the 10th seed.
The Vikings, who dropped from Division III to Division IV and have won two-thirds of their games thus far this season, were seeded second of 12 teams in the smaller Division IV West bracket, while former Portage Trail Conference rival Mogadore was seeded fifth.
Streetsboro, which recently snapped Norton's 74-game Metro win streak and established itself as a team to watch within the league and regionally, snagged the seven seed in Division II East. The Rockets, who have amassed a 13-5 record while taking on steep competition, are joined in Division II East by Metro Athletic Conference counterpart Ravenna (23rd seed) as well as Aurora (16th) and Crestwood (25th).
Field, which has amassed double-digit wins for the first time since 2019-2020, got the 13th seed in Division II West, where it is joined by a number of MAC rivals: Norton (7th), Woodridge (8th), Cloverleaf (14th), Springfield (25th) and Coventry (29th).
Portage County's lone Division I squad, Roosevelt, earned the 28th seed (out of 35 teams in Division I East), while Windham snagged 17th (out of 26) in Division IV East.
Bracket Openers
Here's a look at how Portage County's 12 teams will open the postseason:
Division I Northeast 2 First Round
No. 28 Roosevelt at No. 6 Hoban (2.11, 1p, winner faces No. 26 Cuyahoga Falls)
Division II Northeast 1 First Round
No. 23 Ravenna at No. 11 West Branch (2.15, 7p, winner faces the winner of No. 19 Geneva/No. 6 Edgewood)
Division II Northeast 2 First Round
No. 24 Harvey at No. 7 Streetsboro (2.15, 7p, winner at No. 4 Chagrin Falls)
No. 25 Crestwood at No. 5 Perry (2.15, 7p, winner faces the winner of No. 16 Aurora/No. 10 Ursuline)
No. 16 Aurora at No. 10 Ursuline (2.15, 7p, winner faces the winner of No. 25 Crestwood/No. 5 Perry)
Division II Northeast 3 First Round
No. 17 Bay Village at No. 13 Field (2.15, 7p, winner faces the winner of No. 15 Padua Franciscan/No. 14 Cloverleaf)
Division III Northeast 1 Sectional Final
No. 8 Rootstown vs. No. 20 Wickliffe/No. 6 Lake Catholic (2.18, 1p)
No. 10 Southeast vs. No. 13 South Range/No. 9 United (2.18, 1p)
Division III Northeast 2 First Round
No. 23 Memorial at No. 2 Garfield (2.15, 7p, winner faces No. 19 Champion)
Division IV Northeast 2 First Round
No. 17 Windham at No. 7 Mathews (2.15, 7p, winner faces the winner of No. 13 McDonald/No. 10 Newton Falls)
Division IV Northeast 3 First Round
No. 12 Lake Ridge at No. 5 Mogadore (2.15, 7p, winner faces No. 9 Kidron Central Christian)
No. 4 Canton Central Catholic at No. 2 Waterloo (2.15, 7p, winner faces No. 7 East Canton)
Bracket Thoughts
A few quick thoughts on the brackets:
Waterloo's opening-round contest against Canton Central Catholic is highly intriguing, as the Crusaders have wins over solid Portage Trail Conference teams like Mogadore and Southeast. (Actually, CCC has wins over four of the five teams competing this season in the PTC, with the exception of Rootstown.)
The vast majority of local teams are playing first-round contests. Two exceptions? Rootstown and Southeast in the Division III Northeast 1 bracket. While they got a first-round bye, the Pirates and Rovers could both be headed on the road for the sectional finals. Rootstown will either host Wickliffe or travel to Lake Catholic while Southeast will host South Range or visit United.
Garfield will likely find itself with a rematch of the last three district championship games in the sectional finals, as Champion is almost assuredly headed to Garrettsville on Feb. 18. (That's assuming Garfield can win its third meeting with MVAC Gray Tier counterpart Memorial. The G-Men won their last encounter with the Red Devils by 45 points.) Champion-Garfield would be highly intriguing, and not just for the history, given the Golden Flashes have a dangerous shooter and scorer in Isabella Meyer (as do the G-Men with Laura McCoy). Garfield also has the kind of length that causes most teams challenges.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Garfield, Waterloo snag two seeds in girls basketball tournament
