The road to provincials goes through Okotoks, Airdrie and Hanna this week.
Four Okotoks high school basketball teams and two from Diamond Valley are among the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Top-10 Final Rankings released last week ahead of the South Central Zone championships this week.
In the 2A boys ranks, the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans host the 11-team tournament as the top seed and No. 7 ranked squad in the province.
The second seed is Diamond Valley’s Oilfields Drillers, an honourable mention in the provincial rankings.
The tournament will also feature the recently crowned Foothills Athletic Council champion Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves out of High River, underscoring the depth of the field.
In Hanna at the 2A girls tournament, the Drillers girls will look to build on their Foothills league championship as the second seed in the event and seventh ranked squad in Alberta.
Oilfields opens its competition against Carstairs’ Hugh Sutherland.
It’s Airdrie bound for the Foothills Falcons and Holy Trinity Academy Knights senior girls and boys teams.
The 4A girls zone tournament will be held at W.H. Croxford with the boys event across town at Bert Church.
The Foothills Falcons, top seed in the zone and No. 4 in the province, have a bye through the first round and await the winner of the Croxford vs. HTA match. The gold medal game is a 5 p.m. start on Saturday, March 9.
At Bert Church, the No. 7 ranked Knights are the top seed and will take on the host Chargers in the opener on Wednesday with the No. 9 ranked Foothills, the second seed at zones, taking on the winner of the Chestermere and Croxford play-in match.
The final is a 7:45 p.m. start on Friday, with the losing team in the championship match then moving onto the B-final with two berths to provincials afforded to the 4A South Central zone.
