Findlay and Liberty-Benton avoided top-seeded opponents – at least for now – but a number of area teams were not so fortunate when pairings for the 2024 OHSAA girls basketball tournament were determined on Sunday.

Findlay earned the No. 4-seed among Northwest Ohio's Division I schools and took a first-round bye. The Trojans will host either No. 15 Lima Senior or No. 16 Mansfield Madison on Feb. 24, with that winner advancing to the district semifinals at Lake High School.

Either Toledo Notre Dame (No. 7), Toledo Bowsher (No. 8) or Tiffin Columbian (No. 14) would face Findlay in a lower bracket district semifinal. The elephant in the room in the Lake District pairings, though, is No. 1-seeded Anthony Wayne. The Generals are 17-2 overall, ranked No. 4 in the Division I state poll and 6-0 in Northern Lakes League, Buckeye Division games, including 64-41 and 55-37 league wins over Findlay.

Liberty-Benton was seeded second in Division II based on the MaxPreps Rating Percentage Index (RPI) used to determine tournament rankings this season. The Eagles will host No. 11 Celina in their Feb. 22 opener, with that winner going against either Wauseon (No. 6) or Maumee (No. 7) in a Feb. 24 sectional final.

The four sectional final winners will move on to the Division II district at Miller City, with Bryan a favorite to head that group. The Bears, ranked seventh in the state, are seeded No. 1 and upped their record to 17-1 with Saturday's 51-37 win over L-B.

Elmwood drew a major challenge in the Division III bracketing. The Royals, seeded 11th, open tournament play on Feb. 24 with a game against 17-2 and No. 3-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf.

Most area Division IV schools will be looking to punch their tickets to district competition at Fostoria or Ottawa-Glandorf.

Carey was seeded No. 1, Arcadia No. 2 and McComb No. 3 among the 11 teams that will vie for spots in the Fostoria District. Cory-Rawson, Leipsic and Pandora-Gilboa will host first-round games but four Putnam County League schools – Ottoville (No. 1), Columbus Grove (No. 2), Kalida (No. 3) and Miller City (No. 4) – were the top four seeds in the Ottawa-Glandorf District pairings.

Click here to read the original article.