Eagan draws third seed in Section 3
South Suburban Conference champion Lakeville North and runner-up Rosemount received No. 1 seeds for section girls basketball tournaments that begin this week.
Lakeville North (21-5), seeking its third consecutive state tournament appearance and 12th since 2010, is the top seed in the Class 4A, Section 1 playoffs. Seeded second is Lakeville South, which has never been to the state tournament but split two regular-season games with seventh-ranked Lakeville North, which each winning on the other’s home court. A third game between the Lakeville teams, if it happens, would take place on a neutral court – Mayo Civic Arena in Rochester on March 8.
Lakeville North plays host to No. 8 seed Owatonna (13-13) in a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday. North defeated Owatonna 72-37 in a non-conference game Jan. 6. The winner takes on fourth seed Rochester John Marshall or fifth seed New Prague in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Saturday on the higher-seeded team’s home court.
Lakeville South (15-11) will be home against seventh seed Farmington (8-18) on Wednesday night, with the winner playing No. 3 seed Rochester Mayo or No. 6 seed Rochester Century on Saturday.
South defeated Farmington twice during the regular season, 78-46 and 78-39.
Class 4A, Section 3
Rosemount, 20-6 and ranked eighth in Class 4A, receives a bye in the first round of the Section 3 tournament. The Irish’s first playoff game will be in the section semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday against Burnsville or Hastings.
Burnsville (8-18) is home against Hastings (18-8) in a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Burnsville won the regular-season head-to-head meeting 53-52 on Dec. 1.
No. 2 seed Eastview (18-8) will play seventh-seeded Bloomington Jefferson (1-25) on Wednesday night, with the winner taking on No. 3 Eagan or No. 6 Park of Cottage Grove in a semifinal game Saturday afternoon at the home of the higher seed.
Jefferson has lost its last 25 games, by far the longest losing streak in Class 4A. The streak started with a 65-27 loss to Eastview on Nov. 28.
Defending section champion Eagan (16-10) won eight of its last nine regular-season games, including victories over Rosemount and Eastview in that span.
The Class 4A, Section 3 championship game is March 7, with the higher-seeded team getting home court. The Class 4A state tournament is March 13-16 at Williams Arena and Concordia University, St. Paul.
Class 3A, Section 6
Mound Westonka defeated Apple Valley 68-55 in a Class 3A, Section 6 play-in game Feb. 24. It was the first victory of the season for ninth-seeded Mound Westonka (1-26). Apple Valley, which moved from Class 4A to 3A this season, finished 7-20.
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