AURORA | Coming off a loss to Cherry Creek Wednesday in a game that decided the Centennial League’s regular season champion, the Cherokee Trail girls basketball team is seeded No. 3 going into the inaugural Centennial League tournament which starts Saturday.
The Cougars (17-3 overall, 5-2 in league play) will open the tournament at noon on their home floor against Eaglecrest (13-7, 3-4), which finished with the No. 6 seed, with the winner set to face either No. 2 Arapahoe (14-6, 5-2) or No. 7 Overland (11-9, 1-6), which meet at Arapahoe at 2:30 p.m. The Warriors dealt Cherokee Trail its other loss during the league season.
On the top side of the bracket, eighth-seeded Smoky Hill (2-17, 0-7) pays a visit to top-seeded Cherry Creek (17-3, 7-0) at 1 p.m. and the winner advances to play either No. 4 Grandview (12-8, 4-3) or No. 5 Mullen (9-11, 3-4), which square off at 2 p.m. on the Wolves’ home floor.
Championship semifinal matchups take place at the highest remaining seeds on Feb. 16, with the third-place and championship games set for 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively, on Feb. 18 at Cherry Creek. The winner of the championship game takes the league’s automatic qualifying spot into the upcoming Class 6A state playoffs.
Teams that lose in the opening round will move into the consolation side of the bracket and will work towards placing games Feb. 18 (seventh-place at 10 a.m., fifth-place at 11:30 a.m.)
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE GIRLS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
First round, Feb. 11
No. 6 Eaglecrest at No. 3 Cherokee Trail, noon
No. 8 Smoky Hill at No. 1 Cherry Creek, 1 p.m.
No. 5 Mullen at No. 4 Grandview, 2 p.m.
No. 7 Overland at No. 2 Arapahoe, 2:30 p.m.
