Breaking down 1A-3A Arizona girls' high school basketball tournament
The Arizona Interscholastic Association girls' high school basketball playoff tournaments all are underay this week. The 3A and 2A Conferences will tip off on Tuesday as 16 teams competing in the first round. Meanwhile, in 1A, semifinals will be Friday, with the championship game on Saturday. Here's a breakdown of those three conferences, with each team's bracket seed noted.
3A
The 3A division will feature 24 teams in its bracket. All of the first-round games will be played at the higher seeds' home court, with all but two games taking place on Wednesday. Only the No. 9-24 seeds will play in the first round, with the winners advancing to play the No 1 through 8 seeds, who have automatically made it to the second round. The second-round games will take place on Friday at 7 p.m., with the higher seed hosting the game.
In the opening round, No. 24 Wickenburg will take on No. 9 Parker High School on Tuesday. The winner will advance to take on No. 8 Alchesay. The other tuesday game is No. 22 Scottsdale Christian against No. 11 Thatcher. The winner visits No. 6 Show Low in the second round.
On Wednesday, No. 17 Coolidge will face No.16 Snowflake, with the winner of this game will take on the No. 1 seed Gilbert Christian, which finished a perfect 18-0 during the regular season. No. 21 Ganado will take on 12th seed Winslow, with the winner moving on to face the fifth-seed Window Rock in the second round.
Elsewhere, No. 20th seed Holbrook will face 13-seed Tuba City. The winner moves on to face fourth seed Bourgade Catholic. Bourgade enters the tournament with the second-best overall record at 17-2. Also in the first round, 19th-seed Florence will take on 14th-seed Page, with the game time to be announced. The victor will then travel to Yuma and play third-seeded Yuma Catholic in the second round.
As of now, the only game being played at 5:30 p.m. in the first round will be the 23rd-seed Fountain Hills against the 10th-seed Chinle. The winner will move to the second round and play No. 7-seed Pusch Ridge. Finally, 18-seed Blue Ridge heads to No. 15 Valley Christian. The winner of this game will move on to the second round, where they will play the No. 2 Monument Valley, which enters the tournament with a 15-3 overall record.
2A
In the 2A Conference, all first-round games featuring 16 teams will be played on Friday, with times and location varying in the Prescott area, and all the second-round games being played on Saturday, also in the Prescott area.
No. 16 Arete Prep will take on No. 1 Phoenix Country Day the, which enters playoffs with a perfect 18-0 record. The game will be played at 6 p.m. at Yavapai Community College in Prescott. The winner of this matchup will then take on the winner of No. 9 Valley (Sanders) vs. No. 8 Miami, being played at noon, at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.
The 12th-seed Phoenix Christian will go up against the No. 5 Sedona Red Rock, at 9 a.m. at Findlay Toyota Center. is The winner will then face the winner of No. 13 Round Valley vs. No. 4 Horizon Honors, which meet at Prescott High School at 4:30 p.m.
No. 14 Benson will face No. 3 Pima at Bradshaw Mountain High School at 6 p.m. The winner of the matchup will then take on whoever wins between 11-seed Arizona Lutheran and No. 6 St. Johns. Arizona Lutheran and St. Johns will play at Yavapai Community College at 3 p.m.
At the bottom of the bracket, 10th-seed Bisbee will take on seventh-seed Lead Edge at Bradshaw Mountain High School at 3 p.m. Whoever wins this matchup will then move on to the second round and face the winner of the game between the 15th-seed Glendale Prep and No. 2 San Carlos. The game between Glendale Prep and San Carlos will take place at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott at 1:30 p.m. San Carlos is also coming into the playoffs with the best record, at 19-0.
1A
This conference is entering the semifinal round on Friday at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, with the top four seeds still in it. The final will be played at the same location on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The first semifinal game will start at 3 p.m., Friday, between No. 3 seed St. David and No. 2 Joseph City. St. David comes in with an overall record of 14-2, while Joseph City comes in with a 16-2 overall record. The other semifinal is between No. 4 Fort Thomas and No. 1 Rock Point at 4:30 p.m. Fort Thomas is going into the game with a 16-3 overall record, meanwhile, Rock Point entered the competition with a perfect 16-0 record.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Breaking down 1A-3A Arizona girls' high school basketball tournament
