Postseason begins for area teams

Throw out regular season records as postseason play opens today for Class 3A and 4A basketball teams from Northwest Arkansas.

Because of combined districts, several of the teams that will battle in the conference tournaments did not play during the regular season. Seeds were determined by league coaches last Wednesday, so Friday's district games were not factored in.

The 4A-1 Conference tournament in Berryville opens with Huntsville's top-seeded girls playing eighth-seeded Lincoln at 4 p.m., followed by No. 2 Berryville vs. No. 7 Shiloh Christian at 7 p.m.

The Lady Wolves are just 5-21 overall but proved they are more than capable under interim coach Stan Karber with a 35-28 win at West Fork (23-3) on Friday.

The Lady Eagles (19-8), under legendary coach Charlie Berry, have lost two of their last three games after beginning district play 7-0. They're led by senior center Delanie Tipton, who averages 12.7 points, 8.2 steals and 2.1 steals per game. Junior guards Maci Campbell and McKayla Watkins combine for more than 20 points per game.

The 4A-1 boys opener mirrors the girls bracket with No. 1 Huntsville taking on No. 8 Lincoln at 5:30 p.m. Second-seeded Pea Ridge then wraps up Monday's slate against No. 7 Berryville at 8:30 p.m.

The Blackhawks (24-2) won 16 straight Class 3A/4A, District 1 games before losing 59-56 at Prairie Grove last Tuesday. They're led by four senior starters, including Joey Hall and Matt Thomas, and get a lift off the bench from Westin Church, who started the previous two seasons before needing offseason knee surgery.

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Huntsville, under long-time coach Jim Stafford, moved ahead of Pea Ridge to No. 2 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Class 4A rankings. The Eagles (24-2) were 10-0 in their district and are led by seniors Ty Bohannon, Jack Eaton and Alex Pemberton.

Other first round games will be played Wednesday. In the girls bracket, No. 3 Gravette plays Prairie Grove at 4 p.m. and No. 4 Pea Ridge plays fifth-seeded Gentry. Boys games are No. 3 Gravette vs. No. 6 Shiloh Christian at 5:30 p.m. and No. 4 Prairie Grove against No. 5 Gentry at 8:30 p.m.

The Saints (15-10) are a dangerous sixth-seed and would have been seeded higher had Friday's 72-58 win against fifth-seeded Gentry been factored in during the seed meeting. Junior Jack Hutchinson scored 37 points in that game and has led Shiloh Christian to four straight wins, including a 78-69 overtime win over fourth-seeded Prairie Grove on Jan. 31.

The top four teams from the 4A-1 will meet the top four teams from the 4A-4 Conference tourney at next week's 4A-North Regional in West Fork.

That conference tourney begins today at Subiaco Academy with West Fork's girls, the two-seed, against seventh-seeded Waldron at 4 p.m. West Fork's boys are the No. 6 seed and open against third-seeded Ozark at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

In Charleston, the 3A-1 West Conference Tournament begins today. With six teams, each team was seeded one through three based on how they fared against one another in their respective combined districts. Second-seeded Cedarville plays third-seeded Haas Hall at 4 p.m. and No. 2 Elkins plays No. 3 Mansfield at 7 p.m.

Greenland's girls (20-5, 14-2), which earned the top seed from 3A/4A District 1 and are powered by 5-foot-8 senior post Saphire Osburn, gets the Cedarville-Haas Hall winner at 4 p.m. on Tuesday while the Elkins-Mansfield winner battles top-seeded Charleston at 7 p.m.

Elkins and Cedarville have the No. 1 seeded boys' teams and will play Tuesday against the winners of Monday's first-round games between Cedarville-Haas Hall and Greenland-Mansfield.

Charleston also is the site for the 3A-1 Regional, which begins Feb. 22, and will feature the top four teams from the 3A-1 West against the top four from the 3A-4 Conference Tournament.

Sports on 02/13/2017