Sports
Girls Basketball Tournament Preview 2014
By: Hardwood Heroes Staff
Posted on:
Alexander: Mark Dohner
The Alexander Lady Spartans drew the No. 2 seed in the Division III, Waverly 2 District bracket of the 2014 OHSAA Girls State Basketball Tournament.
With the No. 2 spot, the Lady Spartans will receive a first-round bye and will face the winner of No. 7 Chillicothe Southeastern and No. 10 Stewart Federal Hocking game. Those two teams will face off at Athens High School Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m.
While the Lady Spartans will likely play an unfamiliar Southeastern squad, a Federal Hocking upset would prove best for Alexander, as they handed the Lancers a 90-30 loss in their first game this season. Alexander’s tipoff is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 15, at 4:30 p.m. at Athens High School.
Athens: Carter Eckl
Wayne Horsley leads his Lady Bulldogs back into the playoffs for another year as Athens looks for revenge after last years’ loss in the regional semifinals to Lancaster Fairfield Union 42-37.
The road to the Schottenstein Center has some familiar foes for the Lady Bulldogs as they prepare for another tough postseason test. Their bracket features Chillicothe Unioto, who they faced off against and conquered last year. The No. 1 seed from 2013 is also in the district, with Miami Zane Trace the No. 4 this season. The Lady Bulldogs will look to prove why they are the No. 1 seed and potentially make it all the way to the state tournament in Columbus.
Athens will start their tournament journey Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Logan High School against No. 8 New Lexington at 6:15 p.m.
Eastern: Kaleb Carter
Heading into the Division IV state basketball tournament with high momentum is a near certainty for the Eastern Eagles, who are in their last week of play in the conference schedule.
Eastern, the No. 1 seed, is set to face the winner of No. 8 Symmes Valley and conference foe, No. 9 Miller. The winner of that game (played on Feb. 10 at Meigs High School) will take on Eastern on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 6:15 p.m. at the same location.
The Eagles are currently No. 2 in the Division IV state AP poll and are led by five senior starters who have torn through the TVC-Hocking and stand just three victories away from an undefeated slate in their conference schedule.
Federal Hocking: Brad Friedman
In a season in which their wins came against TVC-Hocking cellar-dwellers, the Federal Hocking Lady Lancers (3-15, 3-9) face a tough test against Southeastern (9-11, 4-8) of the Scioto Valley Conference.
Offensively, the teams match up evenly on paper. The Panthers have averaged 44.7 points per contest, while the sixth place Lady Lancers have averaged 43.2 points per game. However, the defensive stats tell another story. While Southeastern has only allowed 43.2 points a game, Fed Hock has been gashed for an average of 61.6 points each time out on the floor.
The Lady Lancers face the tall order of containing Audrie Wheeler and Logan Goebel, both of whom are in the conference top ten in scoring, averaging a combined 22.9 points per game.
This matchup of the Division III, Waverly 2 District will take place at Athens High School on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 8 pm.
Meigs: Nathan Wiseman
The Meigs Lady Marauders were elected to the No. 9 seed in the Waverly sectional where they will face off against the No. 8 River Valley Lady Raiders.
These two teams are very familiar with each other, having already matched up twice this season. Meigs came up short in both matchups, but unlike most of its losses, the Lady Marauders were able to hang with River Valley. The Lady Marauders (4-15) have lost their games by an average of 22.4 points, but in its two matches with River Valley, Meigs has only lost by an average of 5.5 points. Most recently, River Valley defeated the Lady Marauders 47-44 on Jan. 11.
River Valley and Meigs will meet on the hardwood for the third and final time of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Athens High School at 6:15 p.m.
Nelsonville-York: Karli Bell
The Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes were given the No. 1 seed in the Waverly 1 District. They will take on the winner of the River Valley vs. Meigs game that is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. at Athens High School.
No matter the opponent, the Lady Bucks will have an easy start to the playoffs, thanks to their regular season success. The Lady Bucks have played both River Valley and Meigs earlier in the season. All three games were runaway victories for the Lady Buckeyes. This first playoff game for N-Y should be an easy way to get some momentum rolling for the rest of the tournament.
Trimble: Kelsi Steele
The No. 10 Trimble Lady Tomcats will meet the No. 7 South Gallia Lady Rebels in the first round of the Division IV OHSAA tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
The Lady Tomcats and Lady Rebels will meet for an eventual third time this season, this time at Meigs High School at 6:15 p.m. These two teams are also scheduled to play at South Gallia on Feb. 10, the last conference game for both teams. The ladies of Glouster will be looking to avenge their 42-28 loss from their previous meeting with South Gallia in January.
The TVC-Hocking has given both squads trouble this season, as Trimble is currently 2-10 in the conference and South Gallia is barely above the .500 mark with a 7-6 Hocking record.
The winner of Wednesday’s meeting will face a solid No. 2 South Webster squad Saturday, Feb. 15, at 1:00 p.m. at Meigs High School.
Vinton County: Jon Chamier
The Vinton County Lady Vikings will march into familiar territory as they begin their journey into the postseason on Thursday, Feb. 13.
The No. 3 Lady Vikings (12-6) meet a known foe in the Fairfield Union Lady Falcons (7-10), seeded sixth, for the first round of the 2014 Division II District Tournament. The two teams previously met in last year’s tournament.
Vinton County, then a seven seed, squared off against No. 2 Lady Falcons in the 2013 sectional final game. The Lady Vikings took an early lead into the second half but watched it dwindle in the second half as turnovers stacked up.
Fairfield Union ultimately won the game late and used the momentum to carry them to the District Final.
The Lady Vikings will play Fairfield Union at 8 p.m. at Logan High School.