With the regular season now a memory, area girls basketball teams can now look ahead to the postseason.
Minnesota sectional tournament play opens on Thursday with four games in Section 3A. Eighth-seeded Red Rock Central takes on No. 9 Wabasso in Tyler at 7:30 p.m. in the lone 3A North contest. In 3A South, there are three tilts: No. 9 Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin at No. 8 Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster (7 p.m.), No. 10 Hills-Beaver Creek taking on No. 7 Ellsworth (7:30 p.m.) in Edgerton, with No. 11 Westbrook-Walnut Grove visiting No. 6 Edgerton (6 p.m.) in the opener.
If Red Rock Central wins Thursday, it will face top-seed Lakeview at Southwest Minnesota State University, Saturday at 1 p.m. The winners of the 3A South games will head to Worthington for a quadrupleheader Saturday.
The first game will pit either ML-B-O or SV-RL-B against No. 1 Murray County Central at 1 p.m., followed by No. 5 Adrian vs. No. 4 Southwest Star Concept (2:30 p.m.), the H-BC/Ellsworth winner vs. No. 2 Fulda (4:30 p.m.), and the victor of the W-WG/Edgerton contest against No. 3 Southwest Christian.
Section 3AA South does not open until Saturday when five area teams are in action. Pipestone Area, the top-seeded team in the sectional, hosts Windom (7 p.m.), No. 4 Jackson County Central welcomes No. 5 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton to town (7 p.m.), and No. 3 Luverne faces No. 6 Redwood Valley (7 p.m.).
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Section 2AAA, which releases its pairings today, will likely have the Worthington Trojans playing a home game in Tuesday's first round. The Trojans are expected to be seeded second.
While the full pairings for the Minnesota boys tournaments have not been announced yet, one matchup is set, according to the MSHSL Web site. In Section 3A North, SV-RL-B, seeded eighth, will host No. 9 ML-B-O March 2 at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, Iowa boys action continues tonight as George-Little Rock, playing in Class 1A District 2, faces Aurelia. Harris-Lake Park begins play in Class 1A District 4 with a contest against Armstrong-Ringstead today at 8 p.m., while Sheldon hosts Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn at 7 p.m. today.
