Garnet Valley earns No. 4 seed in Class AAAA tourney

As the Garnet Valley girls basketball team prepared for its Central League championship game Monday, the team learned Sunday it has earned the No. 4 seed in the District One Class AAAA tournament.

Strath Haven, Marple Newtown, Radnor, Penn Wood and Haverford are the other Delaware County teams that qualified for the 32-team bracket.

GV (20-2), which went undefeated in the Central League for the second year in a row, hosts No. 29 Upper Merion in the first round. The Jags face Strath Haven for league bragging rights Monday night at Harriton.

Strath Haven (19-4) and Radnor (16-7) will meet for the third time in nine days and fourth time in less than a month Saturday in a first-round district contest. The 14th-seeded Panthers claimed victory over the No. 19 Raiders in the Central League semifinal round Saturday. It will mark the teams’ fourth meeting of the season. They first met Jan. 23 and the Panthers have won two of the three games.

Elsewhere, No. 17 Marple Newtown (16-7) hits the road to play 16th-seeded Spring-Ford, a perennial district and state title contender. Haverford (14-8) got the No. 22 seed and will travel to 11th-seeded Downingtown East.

After winning its second consecutive Del Val League crown, Penn Wood (14-6) is penciled in to a rematch with No. 13 Cheltenham (17-5). The Patriots fell to No. 20 in the seeding despite a 14-6 record and wins against competitive nonleague opponents, notably Strath Haven, but the Patriots fell two games shy of the 22 regular-season limit. Penn Wood dropped a 51-43 decision to Cheltenham Jan. 29.

Academy Park (13-9) and Ridley (11-11) were bubble teams that ended on the outside looking in along with other double-digit win teams from across the district, including Plymouth-Whitemarsh, which was the No. 33 seed. Boyertown (22-0) was the sure-fire pick for the No. 1 seed.

All District One Class AAAA first-round games are scheduled for Saturday at the site of the higher seed.

The District One Class AAA bracket had not yet been finalized as of late Sunday, but it’s expected that Sun Valley (16-6) will earn the fifth seed and take on No. 4 Gwynedd Mercy in a semifinal-round game Feb 21. Several teams opted not to participate in the tournament due to losing records.

In Class A, fifth-seeded Delco Christian (13-9) is scheduled to play No. 4 Christopher Dock (13-8) and No. 7 Sacred Heart (7-14) will play second-seeded Faith Christian (19-3). Phil-Mont Christian (20-2) is the top seed.