District 9 basketball playoff pairings due out soon

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Brookville and Clarion-Limestone will send three basketball teams to this year's District 9 playoffs that begin next week.
Both Brookville squads will once again compete in Class AA while Clarion-Limestone will send its boys' squad to the Class A tournament.
While official brackets will be announced this weekend, the teams entered in the postseason are known. This weekend's Tri-County Sunday and next week's Democrat will feature bracket pages.
In Class AA boys, the two-time defending champion Raiders will be one of four teams vying for two state playoff spots. It appears they'll be the top seed with Moniteau and Smethport in the 2-3 spots in whatever order and Port Allegany at No. 4. That means a semifinal game for the Raiders against the Gators sometime next week on a neutral court.
In Class A girls, it's just a three-team bracket. Three-time defending champion Cranberry will meet the Brookville-Moniteau winner in the finals. The Lady Raiders-Moniteau semifinal game would also be played on a neutral court sometime later next week.
Clarion-Limestone is part of an 11-team bracket and depending on what happens Wednesday night - see Lions story - the Lions will be the fourth or fifth seed with a bye into the quarterfinals. It appears that C-L will face off against Clarion in the quarters with a state playoff berth at stake since teams making the semifinals are guaranteed one of the district's four state playoff spots.
Ridgway, Union and Johnsonburg look to be seeds 1-2-3 while Coudersport appears to be headed to the No. 6 spot. From there, it's Elk County Catholic, Sheffield, Venango Catholic likely in some order in spots 7 to 9 with Cameron County and A-C Valley in either No. 10 or 11 spots.
Looking at the other brackets, 13 teams make up Class A girls. Unbeaten Keystone will be the top seed while Elk County Catholic looks to be No. 2. Clarion and Coudersport will be in spots three or four. Other teams entered are Cameron County, East Forest, Kane, Smethport, Venango Catholic, Port Allegany, Johnsonburg, A-C Valley and Austin.
In Class AAA, Bradford, Clearfield and Punxsutawney are entered on the boys side with the Chucks getting the top seed and a berth in the finals. All four teams entered the girls' tournament, topped by unbeaten Bradford. Clearfield will be the second seed while Punxsutawney and St. Marys will fall in either of the third and fourth positions.
The playoffs begin next week and will conclude by Saturday, March 3. The state playoffs would begin the following weekend March 9-10.