Sunday, January 28, 2001
Girls sectional tournament draw
Purcell gets a top seed
By Dave Schutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The girls basketball teams seeded at Saturday's sectional tournament draw at Princeton mirrored last year, with one exception.
For the first time, Purcell Marian, ranked No.1 in The Cincinnati Enquirer's Divisions II-IV poll, was included on the elite list; coach Mike Peddicord's Cavaliers (15-2) were seeded No.1 in the Division II sectional at Kings High School.
“To my knowledge, we've never been seeded,” Peddicord said “We're a young team (three sophomores and two juniors), but there shouldn't be much pressure being the No.1 seed.”
Although McNicholas, No.4 in the Enquirer's poll, defeated Purcell Marian two weeks ago, the Rockets (11-5) were seeded No.2, followed by No.7 Kings (12-2) and No.10 Little Miami (13-4).
“We beat Purcell Marian, but they have a 15-2 record,” McNicholas coach Rob Heise said. “Expectations were high going into the season, and we haven't played well at times.”
As expected, defending state champion and top-ranked Mason (13-4) was seeded No.1 in Division I, with surprising No.2 Oak Hills (14-2) second, followed by No.4 Mercy (11-4) and No.3 Lakota West (12-4).
“This is the fourth consecutive year we've been seeded No.1, and I'm happy with the draw,” Mason coach Gerry Lackey said. “But with 32 teams, it's hard to know about all of them.”
The Comets appear to have an easy road to the sectional title, opening with Western Hills. If Mason defeats West Hi, the Comets will play Lebanon, Glen Este or Hughes.
There are three Division I sectional sites in Cincinnati, and the coaches of the seeded teams pick their locations in order of seeding. Lackey chose first and elected to go to Lakota East.
At the same time Saturday, at the Dayton sectional drawing, coach Ed Zink opted to take his 15-0 Beavercreek team to West Carrollton. Beavercreek, which beat Mason last month, is ranked No.1 in the state Associated Press poll.
Beavercreek and Mason can't meet until the regional championship game.
“He (Zink) knows I want to play at Lakota East,” Lackey said.
No.2 Wyoming (13-2) was seeded No.1 in the Division III sectional at Mason, followed by No.5 Madeira (14-2), No.8 Mariemont (12-2) and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (13-3).
In Division IV at Waynesville, Southeastern (13-3) is the top seed, followed by Cincinnati Country Day (12-3), Landmark Christian (13-3) and Middletown Fenwick (9-6).
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Girls sectional tournament draw
