Springboro, CJ among top seeds in tournament

Panthers voted the top team in D-I sectional, CJ and Carroll No. 1 in D-II.

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By Greg Billing, Staff Writer Updated 8:38 AM Monday, February 6, 2012

After the girls high school basketball sectional tournament draw on Sunday, Springboro coach Tom Benjamin sent two text messages to his players.

One told his Panthers they were the top-seeded team in the Dayton Division I sectional.

The other told them to forget about the No. 1 seed, at least for the next two weeks.

“It’s nice to be No. 1,” Benjamin said of fellow coaches voting the Panthers as the top seed. “Usually, that’s been left to Fairmont and other teams.

“But we have three games left in the regular season and they mean a lot. We’re happy with our draw but we have some things to take care of this week.”

Namely, a shot at clinching the Greater Western Ohio Conference South Division title. Springboro (16-1, 8-0 GWOC) hosts Fairborn (16-2, 7-1) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s really become more of an honor than more of an important thing,” Benjamin said. “I know they’ll be happy they are No. 1.”

Springboro opens the tournament against No. 20 West Carrollton on Feb. 15 at Lebanon.

Fairmont (16-3) was the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 3 Fairborn and No. 4 Centerville.

“There are advantages to being No. 1 and No. 2. It used to mean a little bit more because they didn’t use to cross sectionals,” Benjamin said. “ ... I don’t know if it as important as it once was, as long as you’re No. 1 or No. 2.”

Other area teams claiming No. 1 seeds were Chaminade Julienne and Carroll in D-II, Anna and Middletown Madison in D-III and Tri-Village in D-IV.

CJ (16-2) beat out No. 2 Bellrook (16-2) for the top stop in the Springboro sectional. First-year CJ coach Mandy Myers experienced the tournament as a player — winning the 1999 D-II state title with the Eagles — and now as a head coach.

“As a player it was kind of like, OK we have a tournament game coming up. As a coach you want to do everything you can to put them in a position where they can go as far as they can,” said Meyers, whose team plays No. 13 Monroe on Feb. 13.

“You are excited the other teams respect you enough to view you as a No. 1. Going into it I thought there were a number of teams that could compete for the No. 1 seed.”

The girls sectional tournament starts Feb. 13. Winners advance to the district tournament starting Feb. 27. The regional tournament starts March 5 and the state tournament will be held in Columbus on March 15-17.

The boys tournament draw is next Sunday.

Brackets can be found at: www.swdab.org.

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