With four district tournament brackets not yet played out, projecting Class 1A girls’ basketball regional pairings is still a bit dicey but we’ll give a shot on a Sunday morning.  Pairings listed below are based on RPI standings from February 24th at 5:00am.
Of course, the Region One pairings are set as DeBeque and North Park have advanced from District 1 with Elbert and Genoa Hugo grabbing the top two spots from District 7.  Those clubs get together on March 2nd in Glenwood Springs and winners of each contest advance to the state tournament in Pueblo.
Region 1 Pairings

  • DeBeque (17-3) vs Genoa Hugo (17-4)
  • Elbert (17-3) vs North Park (14-5)

 
In Region 2, eight of the nine participants are set with the last berth handed out Sunday when Lone Star and Idalia collide for third place in District 5.  Haxtun meets Arickaree/Woodlin for the championship and both clubs have already earned tickets to regionals.  In District 4, Fleming is the champion with Briggsdale second and Merino third.  Top three qualifiers from District 8 are Shining Mountain, Belleview Christian and Cornerstone Christian.
RPI standings will determine the pairings as numbers from Sunday put them in this order.

  1. Briggsdale
  2. Fleming
  3. Haxtun
  4. Shining Mountain
  5. Arickaree/Woodlin
  6. Belleview Christian
  7. Merino
  8. Lone Star / Idalia winner
  9. Cornerstone Christian.

Region 2 Pairings

  • #6 Belleview Christian vs #7 Merino — winner faces #1 Briggsdale
  • #5 Arickaree/Woodlin vs #8 Lone Star/Idalia winner — winner faces #2 Fleming
  • #4 Shining Mountain vs #9 Cornerstone Christian — winner faces #3 Haxtun

Movement would occur most likely between Cornerstone Christian and the Lone Star/Idalia winner to avoid district matchups in round one.  Arickaree/Woodlin is just two spots behind Shining Mountain in RPI and could jump past them with a win over Haxtun and should that happen, no movement would be needed.  There could also be discussion of having Fleming exchange spots with Briggsdale since the Wildcats won two of three games with the Falcons this year but RPI keeps Briggsdale in the top spot.
 
Region 3 is bit more difficult to lay out because District 2 won’t finish until this afternoon and District 3 has been delayed until Monday.  But projecting the bracket gets easier if Kit Carson and South Baca both win district crowns as expected, the process is a bit easier.
For the regional bracket, district champs earn the top three seeds with RPI putting them in order.  So if the unbeaten Wildcats and Patriots win titles, they join Sangre De Cristo (District 6 champ) in the top three positions.

  1. Kit Carson
  2. South Baca
  3. Sangre De Cristo

Second place teams are then ranked 4-6 for seeding purposes and the teams are in these spots if Wiley and Eads come up short in their district finals.

  1. Cotopaxi
  2. Wiley
  3. Eads

None of the third-place positions have been determined as McClave meets Cheyenne Wells today for the last spot in District 2; Springfield and Kim/Branson face off Monday for third in District 3 and Sierra Grande also meets La Veta for the last regional berth from District 6.
In laying out the pairings, remember the criteria in Region 3 calls for each three-team pod to consist of one team from each district.
Region 3 Pairings

  • #6 Cotopaxi vs Springfield/Kim-Branson — winner plays #1 Kit Carson
  • #5 Eads vs Sierra Grande/La Veta — winner plays #2 South Baca
  • #4 Wiley vs McClave/Cheyenne Wells — winner plays #3 Sangre De Cristo

 
Please note these are projections only and can change with results from tournaments today and Monday.  Only Region 1 is officially set at this point.