If you liked the 1-2-3 finish of Richfield, Dietrich and Carey in both the Northside Conference tournament and State 1A Division 2 tournament last February, you might not like the seedings for the 2010 Northside girls' basketball tournament set for Feb. 6-11 in Carey.
Yes, it could be a flat-footed three-way tie this time around in the regular season. Then again, after a coin flip the top seedings could be the same. Organizers won't know until tonight, when defending conference and state champ Richfield (17-2, 7-2) hosts Dietrich (15-3, 7-1) in the season finale.
Waiting in the wings are the Carey Panthers (12-5, 7-2), who will finish their season Thursday, Feb. 4 at The Community School (3-8, 1-7) in Sun Valley. A Richfield win over Dietrich and a Carey victory over the Cutthroats would position all three front-running teams at 8-2 and cause the coin flip.
If Dietrich beats Richfield's Tigers, the Blue Devils will have the #1 seed and Carey will be #2. The two top seeded teams wait until Monday, Feb. 8 to start the tourney at Carey.
Already, The Community School has won a coin flip with Bliss to settle the lower seeds in the six-team tournament. The Cutthroats are the fifth seed and will open up against #4-seeded Camas County (10-8, 4-6) Saturday at 6 p.m. at Carey School gym. Sixth-seeded Bliss (6-8, 1-8) goes against the #3 seed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Last Thursday, senior Maggie Flood (11.8 ppg) scored 15 points and Natalie Goddard added 5 as the Cutthroats won their first league game 26-19 at Bliss. On the same night, Richfield avenged an early-season three-point loss at Carey with a 61-43 home win over the Panthers. Amy Ellsworth (14) and Jessica Parke (13) led Carey.
Carey freshman guard Angela Ellsworth puts up a shot. Photo by David N. Seelig
