Brackets, Brackets, Brackets: Area girls’ basketball teams know “Road to Resch” as WIAA tournament brackets released.

On Sunday the WIAA let high school girls’ basketball teams around the state of Wisconsin know their road to the state tournament with the release of the playoff brackets for all five divisions.

In Division 1, five Wisconsin Valley Conference schools are part of the Sectional 1 bracket. League champion SPASH (19-1 overall) is seeded 2nd and will play the winner of the game between #15 D. C. Everest (7-13) and #18 Appleton West (1-22) in a regional semifinal on Friday, 2/28. The Evergreens will host the Terrors in a regional quarterfinal next Tuesday, 2/25. After SPASH at #2 there is a drop to the next WVC team, Marshfield (12-11), who is seeded 8th. The Tigers will host #9 Holmen (10-11) on 2/28. Wausau West (8-16) is seeded 13th and have a long road trip for their regional semifinal at #4 Hudson (16-7). The 5th WVC school is this sectional is Wisconsin Rapids (8-13). The 14th seeded Red Raiders will play at #3 Hortonville (15-6).

In Division 2, Sectional 1 there is a mix of area teams from the WVC and the Great Northern Conference. GNC champion Lakeland (19-4) received a #2 seed and will host the winner of the game between #7 River Falls (6-17) and #10 Ashland (2-19) in a regional semifinal on Friday, 2/28. Mosinee (15-5) is a 3 seed and also gets a first round bye. Mosinee, also on 2/28, will host either #11 Wausau East (0-16) or #6 Medford (11-11). East travels to Medford for a regional quarterfinal next Tuesday, 2/25. Merrill (5-17) is seeded 9th and will trek to #8 New Richmond (6-15) next Tuesday with the winner moving on to play at #1 seeded Rice Lake (18-4) in the regional semifinals. Rhinelander (12-10) is the 5 seed in this bracket and play at #4 Menomonie (11-12) on 2/28.

Division 3 has some CWC-East schools and a pair of GNC teams in the Sectional 2 bracket led by the only undefeated team in the state, Wittenberg-Birnamwood (21-0). The Chargers will begin their playoff run in the regional semifinals on 2/28 against the winner of the 1st round game between #8 Peshtigo (9-11) and #9 Oconto Falls (8-14). Tomahawk (11-11) is seeded 6th and will host #11 Sturgeon Bay (3-17) in a regional quarterfinal next Tuesday, 2/25. The winner plays at #3 Menominee Indian (11-11) on Friday, 2/28. Amherst (8-14) is seeded 7th and will play a home game vs. #10 Northland Pines (5-17) next Tuesday with the winner advancing to a road game at #2 Freedom (18-4) a week from Friday.

Division 4 is full of teams from the Marawood Conference. In the bottom half of Sectional 1 Marathon (17-5) received a 3 seed and first round bye. The Raiders will host either #6 Cadott (9-14) or #11 Abbotsford (4-17) in a regional semifinal on Friday, 2/28. Edgar (8-15) is seeded 7th and host #10 Colby (4-16) next Tuesday, 2/25. The winner plays at #2 McDonell Catholic (14-8) the following Friday. Marawood-North leader Phillips (17-6) is a 4 seed and will meet the winner of the first round game between 5th seeded Ladysmith (14-9) and #12 Chequamegon (3-19) on 2/28. The top seed in the bracket is Cameron and they will host either #8 Hurley or #9 Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (5-15) in a regional semifinal. Auburndale (18-4) is in Sectional 2 and a 3 seed and will be home vs. either #6 Crivitz (13-7) or #11 Marion/Tigerton (14-9) on 2/28. Stratford (18-4) is in Sectional 3 and a 4 seed and will host #5 Luther (17-4) or #12 Osseo-Fairchild (2-19) in a regional semifinal on 2/28.

In D-5 the Newman Catholic Cardinals (3-18) are seeded 12th and play at #5 Greenwood in a regional quarterfinal next Tuesday night. The winner plays either #4 Almond-Bancroft (17-5) or #13 Athens (2-18) the following Friday. Northland Lutheran (8-9) is seeded 9th and travel to #8 Loyal (8-12) next Tuesday with a win earning a trip to #1 seeded Assumption (21-1) on 2/28.

Sectionals will be played on March 6th and March 8th with the state tournament on Thursday, March 13th through Saturday, March 15th at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Full brackets can be found at wiaawi.org.