Radnor’s reward is a meeting with O’Hara
It took three straight wins over top-10 seeds for Radnor to earn the ninth seed in District One and a berth in the PIAA Class AAAA girls basketball tournament.
The reward for a squad that entered the District One tournament as the 19th seed is another contest (its first in the Class AAAA state tourney) in which it will be a marked underdog.
Radnor takes on District 12 champion Cardinal O’Hara in Friday night’s opening round at Lansdale Catholic. Tipoff is at 6.
The winner of that matchup will get the winner of Central Dauphin East and Parkland, the third-place teams from Districts Three and 11, respectively, in the second round Tuesday, March 10.
Further up the Class AAAA bracket, Archbishop Carroll, District 12’s third seed, opens with Spring-Ford, the fourth seed from District One. The Patriots play Friday at 7:30 at Colonial Elementary School for the right to take on the winner of District Two champ Pittston and North Penn, the seventh seed from District One.
Garnet Valley, District One’s sixth seed, has the longest opening-round trip of Delco’s four Class AAAA teams, venturing out to Lebanon High for an 8 p.m. tipoff with District Three runner-up Palmyra.
Friday night is also the curtain raiser for the Class AAA boys tournament, which features Archbishop Carroll tangling with District One champ Octorara at Harriton at 7:30. The winner takes on the victor of District Three champ Steelton-Highspire and District 11’s Tamaqua before charting a westerly course through the bracket.
The team Octorara vanquished in the district final, Glen Mills, gets a longer trip to take on Susquehanna Township, the third seed from District Three. Those teams have a late meeting at Harrisburg High at 8.
The Delco Christian boys also play their Class A opener Friday night, a 5 o’clock date at Council Rock South with Paul Robeson, which claimed District 12’s third seed with a 9-14 record.
Saturday features the start of the Class AAAA boys and Class AAA girls tournaments.
Ridley, the fourth seed from District One, gets a date with La Salle, District 12’s third team, at Spring-Ford at 1. The winner remains on an easterly track, awaiting either District Two champ Abington Heights or Central York, the seventh qualifier from District Three, in the second round Wednesday, March 11.
Penncrest, which parlayed a 28 seed in the District One tournament to the 10th and final states berth, travels to Dallastown Area High School for a 2:30 date with District Three champ York on the western side of the bracket. The winner, though, gets to stay relatively east by taking on whichever side prevails in the meeting of District 12 runner-up Martin Luther King and District 11 third seed William Allen.
The only Delco representative in the girls Class AAA tournament is Bonner-Prendergast, the District 12 third-place team. The Pandas open with a trip to District One champion Gwynedd Mercy at Upper Dublin at 2:30, the winner facing either District Two’s North Pocono or District Three’s West York.
