Girls basketball: Home is where the start is this postseason for seven area teams

A great cure for six more weeks of winter is tournament basketball, and the road to the girls state tournament tips off in less than two weeks. Seven area teams found out they'll get to host their first game of the district tournament on either Feb. 15 or Feb. 19, depending on the division, when the Ohio High School Athletic Association released the tournament brackets Sunday. Avon Lake, Elyria Catholic, Keystone, Columbia, Wellington and Open Door will begin play Feb. 15, while Avon will open its tournament Feb. 19. Avon, Avon Lake and Elyria Catholic were the highest-seeded teams from the area, all receiving a No. 5 seed in their respective districts. Columbia and Open Door both received single-digit seeds at No. 6 and No. 8, while Keystone was seeded No. 10 and Wellington No. 17. The Eagles — along with Amherst, Elyria, Lorain and North Ridgeville — will begin their run a bit later than the other area teams because Divisions I and II have only 64 teams and begin play in the district semifinals. Avon (16-4) elected to play at the Northeast 7 district and will host No. 23 Nordonia on Feb. 19. The winner will play either No. 4 Hudson or No. 25 Firestone in the final at Medina on Feb. 22. "We've been getting better and better and better," Avon coach Adam Castrilla said. "We're peaking at a great time. There's lots of variables with that. We play pretty consistently two freshmen and quite a number of other juniors who didn't play varsity at all last year, so getting to this point now where they're not freshmen any more or first-year varsity players. They've adjusted and have done a really good job." Avon Lake (16-3) set itself up nicely for a run to the regional tournament as the highest seed in the Northeast 6 district. It will host No. 38 Garrett Morgan on Feb. 15 and could host the district semifinals against No. 23 Louisville or No. 41 Wooster on Feb. 19 if it wins. The Shoregals' likely opponent in the district final at Nordonia on Feb. 22 is No. 12 Westlake, the highest seed on the opposite end of the bracket. The Shoregals' only losses have come against some of the top teams in Northeast Ohio — St. Vincent St. Mary, Olmsted Falls and Brush. "That's the biggest thing we've done with our schedule," Avon Lake coach Paul Appel said. "We wanted to play a tough schedule with the tournament in mind. We're going to be traveling for a lot of our games and the purpose was to play against really good teams. We wanted to get that out of our schedules. We feel it has helped. We've played a lot of different styles, a lot of different teams and that's going to help us come tournament time because we'll be facing some unfamiliar teams." Elyria Catholic (15-4) is no stranger to deep postseason runs and has a shot to once again make some noise. The Panthers are the only other team that wound up being the highest seed in their district. They will host No. 43 St. Martin de Porres on Feb. 15 and could host the district semifinals Feb. 18 against either No. 24 Hubbard or No. 28 Lutheran West. The final, at Akron North, is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. with No. 13 Trinity the highest seed on the opposite side of the bracket, though No. 15 Laurel should be a tough matchup. "We're looking forward to it," Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery said. "You've got to win against good teams to win at district. That's our goal and I think we've got an opportunity to do that. We try to play all different types of teams in the regular season to get us ready for the tournament. We've played teams with active bigs, teams that try to press and run. We try to find a wide variety of teams to play so we're ready for the tournament." If the Panthers make it through, Keystone could be waiting for them in the regional semifinals. The Wildcats are chasing their second-straight trip to the state semifinals, qualifying in Division III last season when there were only four divisions. Keystone (18-2) begins its run against No. 38 Beaumont on Feb. 15. A win would bring a matchup with No. 9 Perry or No. 39 Coventry in the district semifinals Feb. 18 and then the final on Feb. 22 at Akron North. No. 6 West Branch is the highest-seeded team on the opposite side of the bracket. The Wildcats hit a bit of a snag last week, seeing its 39-game regular-season winning streak come to an end with a 57-42 loss at Padua on Monday, then its 32-game Lorain County League winning get stopped with a 51-50 loss at Columbia on Saturday. Keystone, however, is still in line to win its fourth straight LCL title and third straight outright title. Columbia, on the other hand, could be playing its best ball at just the right time. The Raiders have won seven straight and snapped a five-game losing streak to Keystone that dates back three years. The Raiders won't know their opponent until Feb. 12 when No. 20 United plays No. 18 McDonald. "From the first game of the year we've competed with the best," Columbia coach Faith Williams said. "We played Midview first game of the year, we've played North Ridgeville, we've played these bigger schools. It's going to help us greatly, especially the environment of being in a louder gym. We just played Firelands, it was the same way. Our girls are loving this environment, they crave this environment rather than a quiet gym." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. DISTRICT MATCHUPS All Division I and II opening-round games scheduled for Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. unless noted; all other divisions scheduled for Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. unless noted. All district finals scheduled for Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. unless noted. Division I Northeast 3 (Uniontown Lake district) No. 11 Lorain at No. 4 Jackson Northeast 4 (Valley Forge district) No. 15 Elyria at No. 1 Strongsville Division II Northeast 3 (Elyria Catholic district) No. 18 North Ridgeville at No. 11 Cleveland Heights Northeast 5 (Medina district) No. 26 Amherst at No. 8 Twinsburg *District final Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. Northeast 7 (Medina district) No. 23 Nordonia at No. 5 Avon Division III Northeast 4 (Perry district) No. 37 Midview at No. 8 Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Northeast 5 (Nordonia district) No. 38 Garrett Morgan at No. 5 Avon Lake *District final on Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. Division IV Northeast 1 (Akron North district) No. 43 St. Martin de Porres at No. 5 Elyria Catholic *District final on Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. Northeast 3 (Akron North district) No. 38 Beaumont at No. 10 Keystone Northeast 6 (North Ridgeville district) No. 17 Firelands at No. 12 Edgewood Northwest 1 (Bucyrus district) No. 7 Vermilion at No. 4 Perkins, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. *District final on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. Division V Northeast 1 (Woodridge district) No. 24 Clearview at No. 6 Tuslaw No. 22 Brookside at No. 4 Lake Catholic *District final on Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. Division VI Northeast 2 (Norwayne district) No. 6 Columbia to host winner of No. 20 United at No. 18 McDonald No. 22 Aquinas at No. 17 Wellington No. 28 Oberlin at No. 3 Richmond Heights *District final on Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. Northeast 4 (Norwayne district) No. 33 Black River at No. 10 Loudonville Division VII Northeast 3 (Mineral Ridge district) No. 21 Lake Ridge Academy at No. 5 Western Reserve No. 17 Chalker at No. 8 Open Door