Fans of the 3A North Region will get their fill of basketball this weekend when the regional tournaments are played today and Saturday (Feb. 11 and 12) at Chinle’s Wildcat Den. Both the boys’ and girls’ region titles will be decided by the end of Saturday night. Chinle’s stadium is far and away the nicest high school gym in the state, and it will most certainly be packed on Saturday night when the championship games are played.
On the boys’ side of the bracket, Holbrook is the top seed and will play either Monument Valley or Chinle, at 7:30 tonight. Third seeded Winslow met sixth seeded Ganado on Thursday, and the winner was slated to face the winner of the game between second seeded Window Rock and seventh seeded Tuba City at 12:30 p.m. today. Today’s winners will play in the championship game scheduled at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The losing teams from today’s semifinal round will match up at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday to determine third and fourth place.
In the girls’ bracket, Window Rock garnered the top seed and will play either fourth seeded Winslow or fifth seeded Chinle at 6 o’clock tonight. Third seeded Monument Valley played sixth seeded Holbrook on Thursday afternoon, with the winner facing the winner between second seed Tuba City and seventh seeded Ganado at 11 o’clock this morning. Today’s semifinal winners will face off in the title game at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Today’s losing teams will play at 11 a.m. on Saturday to decide third and fourth places.
All teams finishing in the top three at the region tournament will automatically qualify for the state tournament regardless of their overall power ranking. Teams already in the top 16 of the power point standings will also be in the state tournament. Prior to the regional tournament, six of the seven North girls’ teams were ranked in the top 11. For the boys’ side, just four teams were ranked in the top 16.
The state tournament gets underway next Friday, with the first round girls’ games all being played at the sites of the higher eight seeds. Second round girls’ games will be played in Prescott on Monday, Feb. 21. Boys’ opening round state games get underway on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the higher seeds, and their second round games will be played on Tuesday, Feb. 22, in Prescott. The final four teams from both sides will play on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26, at Glendale Arena.
