As we approach February, girls’ basketball teams in Class 1A continue to search for league championships and better district tournament seeding.  District tournaments will determine which teams advance to one of three regional tournaments.  The top two clubs from Districts 1 and 7 advance with the remaining six districts advancing their top three teams.
This is our second look at the district tournament pairings for Class 1A.  They are based on results to date and our picks on which teams we feel will move on.  Our selections below are listed in order of district finish as the first team in each pairing is our pick for champion followed by the runner-up and third place team.  District placement will come into play in two of the three regional tournaments.
 

  • District #1:  DeBeque, North Park
  • District #2:  Kit Carson, McClave, Cheyenne Wells
  • District #3:  South Baca, Springfield, Wiley
  • District #4:  Briggsdale, Fleming, Merino
  • District #5:  Haxtun, Arickaree/Woodlin, Otis
  • District #6:  Sangre De Cristo, Cotopaxi, Sierra Grande
  • District #7:  Genoa Hugo, Elbert
  • District #8:  Front Range Baptist, Shining Mountain, Belleview Christian

 
The easiest pairing takes place in Region 1 where the District 1 and 7 champions cross-bracket with the runner-up team from the opposite district.  They meet in Glenwood Springs on March 2nd with winners of each game advancing to the state tournament.
REGION 1

  • De Beque vs Elbert
  • Genoa Hugo vs North Park

 
RPI will be used to seed the Northeast (Region 2) bracket and district champions are not guaranteed a first round bye.  Teams may be moved in the pairings to avoid conference pairings in round one.  Based on RPI standings from January 28th, that aspect may come into play with the lowest two seeds in the bracket.  Shining Mountain is 8th in RPI and Otis 9th but we exchange spots for those two teams to avoid a conference pairing in round one.  The Region 2 tournament will be played in Sterling (NJC) on March 1st and 2nd.  The top three teams get a first round bye and meet a first round winner on Saturday.  Winners of each game on Saturday move on to the state tournament
REGION 2

  • #6 Front Range Baptist vs #7 Merino — winner vs #1 Briggsdale
  • #5 Belleview Christian vs #8 Otis — winner meets #2 Fleming
  • #4 Arickaree/Woodlin vs #9 Shining Mountain — winner meets #3 Haxtun

 
For the Southeast, each three-team pod will consist of one team from each district.  The district champs, as we understand it, will earn a top three seed and get a first round bye.  The remaining teams will be placed to avoid putting two teams from the same district into the same “pod”.  In our district predictions, we have Kit Carson, South Baca and Sangre De Cristo as district champs and placed in that order based on RPI.  Runner-up teams include Cotopaxi, McClave and Springfield with Wiley, Sierra Grande and Cheyenne Wells our choices for third place squads.
REGION 3

  • #6 Cotopaxi vs #7 Wiley — winner faces #1 Kit Carson
  • #5 McClave vs #8 Sierra Grande — winner faces #2 South Baca
  • #4 Springfield vs #9 Cheyenne Wells — winner faces #3 Sangre De Cristo

 
Please remember that these are projections only and not official in any manner.  We will continue to lay out our thoughts on a weekly basis throughout the remainder of the regular season.