ASHLAND — The road to the Ashland district runs through Milan and for third-seeded Mansfield Senior and No. 4 Shelby, it is fraught with peril.
The Tygers (14-4) and Whippets (16-4) will have their hands full when sectional semifinal play opens Feb. 16 at Edison High School. Senior High will face crosstown rival Madison (5-14) for a third time while Shelby will gets a Richland County rematch with Lexington (5-15).
The Tygers beat the Rams twice in the regular season, but had to hold on for a 39-38 win at Madison last week. The Whippets beat upstart Lady Lex (5-15) 51-45 in overtime on Jan. 17 at Shelby.
Shelby and Lex tip things off at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 at Edison. The Tygers and Rams follow at 8 p.m.
Top-seeded Norwalk (16-2) awaits the winner of the Mansfield Senior/Madison game in what is a loaded district field. The Shelby/Lexington winner will meet No. 6 Port Clinton (13-5).
Eighth-seeded Ontario (8-11) took a first-round bye and will play either No. 2 Bellevue (16-4) or No. 11 Vermilion (3-15) in the Willard sectional final at 6 p.m. Feb. 18.
See the entire state’s girls basketball tournament brackets at this link.
Division I
Ashland is north central Ohio’s lone remaining Division I team. The Arrows earned the No. 18 seed and will take on fifth-seeded Perrysburg at 6 p.m. Feb. 15 at Lake High School in Millbury.
Division III
Defending Division II district runner-up Clear Fork dipped to Division III this year and is in the 12-team Shelby district field. The Colts (12-7) earned the No. 4 seed and will take on No. 9 Edison (6-11) at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Buckeye Central sectional semifinals.
No. 10 Bucyrus (6-12) will play No. 8 Willard (7-11) in the early game Feb. 15 at Buckeye Central.
At the Monroeville sectional, No. 7 Wynford (9-8) will play No. 6 Western Reserve (14-3) at 6 p.m. Feb. 15. The winner plays No. 3 Colonel Crawford (13-5) at 6 p.m. Feb 18 in the sectional final.
Top-seeded Margaretta (12-6) plays No. 12 Galion (1-16) in the late game at Monroeville on Feb. 15. The winner gets No. 11 Crestview (8-12) in the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18.
Also in Division III, Loudonville (15-3) picked up the No. 7 seed in the Northeast District. The Redbirds will host No. 12 Canton South in the sectional final at 1 p.m. Feb. 18. No. 22 seed Hillsdale (4-14) visits No. 4 Warrensville Heights at 7 p.m. Feb. 15. No. 21 seed Mapleton (6-10) has an opening-round bye and will play at either No. 2 Waynedale (16-3) or No. 19 Northwestern (6-11) at 1 p.m. Feb. 18.
Division IV
Buckeye Central earned the top seed in the 13-team Willard District field and took a first-round bye. The Buckettes (16-3) will play either No. 10 Crestline or No. 11 Willard in the Crestview sectional final at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16. Crestline and St. Paul play in the late sectional semifinal game on Feb. 16 at Crestview, while No. 6 Lucas and No. 7 Plymouth meet in the early game Feb. 16.
Mansfield Christian got the No. 4 seed and plays No. 9 Seneca East at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Shelby sectional semifinals. No. 13 St. Peter’s plays No. 3 New London in the late game Feb. 16 at Shelby.
