By Dan Messerschmidt

SHELBY — The girls’ basketball tournament seedings and subsequent pairings were announced Sunday afternoon and local teams now know when, where and whom they are playing.

Bucyrus was the No. 5 seed in the Division III Shelby district and will play No. 9 Fostoria in the opener at Willard High School on Feb. 20 at 6:15 p.m.

Lady Redmen coach Taylor Whitaker was able to avoid No. 1 seed Margaretta and No. 2 Western Reserve at least to the district.

“I like where we’re at,” Whitaker said. “We can play with Seneca East. It will be interesting.”

Seneca East got the vote as the No. 3 seed and took the bye at Willard. The Tigers will play the Bucyrus/Fostoria winner at 6 p.m. on February 24.

Seneca East swept the two regular-season games with Bucyrus in the Northern 10 Conference, 50-46 in Attica and 57-43 at Bucyrus.

“We scrimmaged Margaretta,” Whitaker said. “They are very fast, and their press is amazing.”

Western Reserve chose to play the late game at Willard and will face Huron at 8 p.m. The winner plays Galion for the sectional championship at 8 p.m. on February 24.

No. 8 Wynford plays county and N10 rival, No. 10 Colonel Crawford at 7 p.m. at Lexington High School on February 20. The winner will take on Margaretta at 1 p.m. on February 24, also at Lexington.

Buckeye Central received the nod as the unanimous No. 1 seed in the Division IV Willard district and chose the bye to the sectional final at Shelby High School.

“There were really no surprises,” Buckeye Central coach Greg Moore said. “It went pretty much as we expected.”

The Buckettes will play the winner of Crestline versus Mansfield Christian on February 24 at 6 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Flames play on February 20 at 6:15 p.m. — also at Shelby High School — for the right to face Buckeye Central for a sectional title.

Norwalk St. Paul got the No. 2 seed and took the bye into the upper bracket final at Norwalk High School. The Flyers will face the winner of Lucas and Sandusky St. Mary at 6 p.m. on February 24.

“It was an unusual tournament draw,” Moore said. “With only 11 teams, there were five byes.

“But we just have to take care of business in our last two regular-season games,” Moore said. “Then we can start getting ready for the tournament.”

Mohawk, assigned to the Liberty-Benton district, will play No. 6 New Riegel in the opening round of the sectional at Hopewell-Loudon High School. Game time is 7 p.m. on February 21. The winner takes on No. 1 Leipsic at 6 p.m. on February 24.