Lady Leps Take 3rd Seed, Will Play Boardman 2/19
The Louisville Lady Leopards girls basketball (15-2) team drew the third seed in the Alliance Division I District draw Sunday afternoon. The Lady Leps choose not to take the bye, but will instead play the Boardman Spartans in the first round on Saturday, February 19 at 1:00 PM. All district tournament games will be played at Alliance High School, a place where Louisville won 84-14 earlier this year.
The Spartans are 6-9 overall this season and 3-5 in the Federal League. The Lady Leopards have found success against Federal League teams this season in going 3-0 thus far against them, with Jackson still to play during the home finale February 16. Here is a comparison of Louisville and Boardman’s common opponents:
Louisville 64, @GlenOak 45 | @GlenOak 53, Boardman 46
@Louisville 50, Lake 32 | Boardman 45, @Lake 42 | Boardman 42, @Lake 34 (Federal League Tournament)
@Louisville 50, Perry 44 | Perry 57, @Boardman 47
Jackson at Louisville, TBD 2/16 | @Jackson 52, Boardman 42
The Lady Leps go their largest win earlier this year at Harry Fails Gymnasium with an 84-14 destruction of Alliance on December 20
If the Lady Leopards defeat the Spartans, they will then play the Perry Panthers the following Thursday, February 24 at 6:00 PM. Louisville hosted Perry earlier this year and escaped with a 50-44 victory.
As far as seeding goes, McKinley took the top spot and will take on Timken first round. “They’re just in a whole another league of them own. Their pressure is unbelievable, just unbelievable” said Louisville coach Garee McCully of the Division I AP Poll #1 ranked Bulldogs. McKinley is 16-0 on the year and is riding a 38-game winning streak dating back to last season when they lost to South Euclid Regina 67-51 on February 10, 2010. The Bulldogs rebounded from that loss to win the District, Region, and then finally the State Championship.
The 14-2 North Canton Hoover took the second seed and chose the opposite side of the bracket, same as Louisville. Hoover will play GlenOak first round and could eventually clash with the Lady Leopards in the District Semifinals. The fourth seed was rewarded to Canfield who holds an 11-5 record overall.
The only other team in the district, which features 9 teams with winning records, that Louisville has faced (that we haven’t mentioned so far) is the fifth-seeded Massillon Tigers. The Lady Leps destroyed the Lady Tigers 66-46 back on December 22 when Alyssa Jones went for 25 on them.
The District Tournament at Alliance High School will show everyone the Lady Leopards true colors. But for now, Louisville is still looking to finish the season strong with three home games against Carrollton, Canton South, and Jackson. Victories over Carrollton and Canton South will give the Lady Leps their 7th Northeastern Buckeye Conference Title overall, and fourth in the last five years. If they do win out, a Minerva win over West Branch this week would give the Lady Leopards the NBC crown outright.
Here is the full bracket below, click the bracket to enlarge it:
