3A District basketball tournaments hit the hardwood this week
The Coal Ridge and Grand Valley high school girls basketball teams head into this week’s 3A Western Slope District tournament among the top seeds, with bids for the state playoffs on the line.
Grand Valley’s Lady Cardinals open the District Tournament as the No. 2 seed, and will face No. 7 Gunnison at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on their home court.
The Lady Titans enter as the No. 4 seed, and will host No. 5 North Fork at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Roaring Fork Rams hold the No. 8 seed among the girls teams, and will play at No. 1 Delta at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Winners advance to the semifinals and championship rounds Friday and Saturday, to be held at Grand Junction Central High School.
On the boys side of the 3A Districts, No. 8 Grand Valley opened things up with a 51-39 win Monday night in the play-in game over No. 9 North Fork. The Cardinals face the No. 1 seed and undefeated Aspen Skiers at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Aspen.
No. 5 Coal Ridge travels to play No. 4 Gunnison at 6 p.m. Tuesday; No. 6 Basalt is at No. 3 Moffat County at 6 p.m. Tuesday; and No. 7 Roaring Fork is at No. 2 Delta at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
As with the girls, the winners advance to the semifinals on Friday, followed by the championship and third place games on Saturday at Grand Junction Central.
The top two teams that emerge from each of the seven districts advance to the 32-team 3A state playoffs to be announced on Sunday. The remainder of the field is to be determined by the Colorado High School Activities Association RPI rankings.
Going into the week, the Aspen boys hold the highest state ranking among WSL teams at No. 4, followed by Moffat County at No. 24, Delta at No. 38 and Coal Ridge at No. 39.
For the girls, Delta is ranked fourth in the state, Grand Valley is at No. 7, and Coal Ridge is at No. 11.
Unlike the 3A classification, area 4A teams head straight to a larger, 48-team state playoff bracket, where play also begins this week.
On the girls side, No. 19 Glenwood Springs hosts No. 46 Denver North at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and No. 41 Rifle travels to play No. 24 Montrose.
The Glenwood boys enter the tournament as the No. 36 seed, playing on the road at No. 29 Durango on Wednesday. And, the Rifle boys snuck in as the No. 48 seed, traveling to play No. 17 Grand Junction.
Senior Reporter/Managing Editor John Stroud can be reached at 970-384-9160 or jstroud@postindependent.com.
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