When it comes to posting wins on the basketball court, Washington County girls' basketball teams have been doing that with amazing regularity.
Three of the six Washington County schools earned top seeds for the upcoming sectional tournament while another was the two seed.
Marietta, Waterford and Fort Frye all three were selected as No. 1 seeds and earned a bye for the first game of the sectional, facing the winner of a play-in game.
In perhaps the toughest sectional in the state, the Lady Tigers will face the winner of No. 8 Vinton County and No. 9 Gallia Academy at 1 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Alexander High School.
"We're happy with it," said Marietta girls' basketball coach Scott Cozzens.
Of the 10 teams in the Division II sectional at Alexander only two of them had losing records at the time of the draw. Of the 19 teams in the Division II district, 13 of them having winning records.
"There's no easy games," Cozzens said. "The tournament is just a wonderful thing. One off night and anything can happen."
Vinton County, which is an eight seed, was 10-8 at the time of the drawing and is currently 11-8 on the season. Gallia Academy is 3-16.
The Lady Tigers were 15-3 at the time of the draw with two losses coming to Zanesville and Zanesville Bishop Rosecrans.
As good as Marietta has been, many schools in the sectional weren't quite so eager to recognize it.
Four of the 10 schools voted Jackson as the top seed over Marietta, despite the fact that Jackson had lost twice to Warren, which had in turn been beaten three times by the Lady Tigers.
When it came to voting for the two seed, four schools also voted for the Ironladies over the Lady Warriors, despite Warren having beaten Jackson 55-49 the day before Sunday's draw.
Only three schools voted for the top four seeds in the order in which they were eventually selected.
Though they were selected as the top seed, the Lady Tigers know that it's seldom the best team that wins the state championship. It's the best team that particular game.
"We don't have to be the best team, just the best team that night," Cozzens said.
In the Division IV sectional at Meigs High School in Pomeroy, the Waterford Lady Wildcats will face the winner of No. 8 Miller and No. 9 Trimble at 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 15. Miller and Trimble play at 5 p.m. Monday at Meigs.
Waterford has beaten Miller twice and Trimble once during the regular season, but the Lady 'Cats know they can't take anything for granted in the postseason. Waterford faces Trimble tonight at Waterford Elementary School for their second matchup of the season.
"We're looking forward to it. We've had a pretty good year. You've got to refocus. You get rewarded with the one seed from what you do in the season, but now everybody's even, so you've got to go out and play," said Waterford girls' basketball coach Jerry Close.
In the Eastern District, the Fort Frye Lady Cadets also earned a top seed in the Division III sectional at Cambridge where they will face the winner of No. 8 St. Clairsville and No. 7 Bellaire at 8 p.m. on Feb. 18.
St. Clairsville and Bellaire meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Cambridge.
In the Lady Cadets' bracket, West Muskingum took the second seed while Union Local fell into the three.
Union Local's presence in the Lady Cadets' bracket altered the outcome of Fort Frye's draw, as teams moved up to the other side.
"When Union Local came to our bracket, all the other upper seeds after that they all went to West M's bracket," said Fort Frye basketball coach Dan Liedtke.
Shenandoah will face West Muskingum at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Cambridge while Monroe Central will play Martins Ferry at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The Lady Zeps were the six seed while Monroe Central took the fifth seed in the Division III sectional at Cambridge.
Even though the brackets were slightly different than might've been expected, the Fort Frye girls still got a solid draw.
"Really it is (a good draw). We're not playing some of the other teams that we've already played like Shenandoah or Monroe Central. We're not going to play them again until maybe later on down the tournament," Liedtke said.
Back in the Southeastern District, the Warren Lady Warriors earned the two seed with a 13-5 record at the time of the draw.
Five other teams had more wins than the Lady Warriors, including the three and four seeds in Jackson and Fairfield Union. Warren, however, had beaten Jackson twice including a win at Jackson the day before the tournament draw.
"The win over Jackson pretty much sealed the two spot," said Warren girls' basketball coach Amy Colgrove.
Warren will now face the winner of No. 7 Sheridan and No. 10 New Lexington at 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Alexander. Sheridan holds a 10-9 record playing in the Muskingum Valley League while New Lexington is one of the only two teams in the sectional with a losing record, having gone 2-16 at the time of the draw.
A No. 7 seed with a better than .500 record in a tough league is proof of how good the Division II sectional at Alexander really is, Colgrove noted.
"The No. 7 seed is Sheridan, which has a very good tradition. You don't find many seven seeds that are as good as they are," Colgrove said.
Immediately after the Waterford girls' game in the Div. IV sectional at Meigs on Feb. 15, the Belpre Lady Eagles, who earned a No. 4 seed, will face No. 5 Eastern Pike at 8 p.m.
Belpre was 12-6 on the year at the time of the draw, and is 13-6 heading into tonight's game at Reedsville Eastern, which took the two seed with a 12-5 mark.
Federal Hocking, which took the 10 seed in the sectional, will face Symmes Valley at 6:45 p.m. on Monday.
In the Div. IV sectional in the Eastern District at Union Local the Frontier Lady Cougars have the difficult task of facing the top seed in the bracket in the Shadyside Lady Tigers.
Frontier and Shadyside will meet at 8 p.m. Feb. 15, following the conclusion of the Caldwell and Barnesville game which is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. at Union Local.
In Div. II in the East district, the Morgan Lady Raiders (10-9, 7-8)) will face John Glenn, a Muskingum Valley League foe, at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Tri-Valley High School.
