District 3 announces basketball tourney schedule, championship dates
(This story has been updated with additional information.)
Looks like a lot of basketball players could be cutting classes early at Berks Catholic on March 2 if the Saints boys and girls teams return to District 3 championship games.
District 3’s championship schedule includes several a.m. games, and all of the title games are scheduled for either Tuesday Feb. 28 or Thursday March 2. There will be six games each day.
All championship games will take place at Giant Center in Hershey but options were limited for the District 3 Committee. The Hershey Bears play at Giant Center Wednesday, Friday and Saturday that week.
Traditionally, District 3 spread its championship games over four to five days, with games on Friday night and Saturday. Giant Center has made fewer dates available in recent years, giving District 3 less flexibility. Last year the games were played on a Thursday and Saturday.
Girls and boys championship games in Class 1A, 2A and 3A will be played Feb. 28, starting at 11 a.m., with the final game tipping at 7:45.
Championships in 4A, 5A and 6A will be played March 2, with the same time schedule.
The Berks Catholic and Reading High boys won district championships last year, in Class 4A and 6A, respectively, and Antietam played in the 2A title game.
The Berks Catholic girls played in the 4A title game, falling to Delone Catholic 33-27.
Reading High beat Warwick 68-43 for its second straight championship and third in five years. Berks Catholic beat Middletown 60-37 for its second title in five years and fourth overall. The Mounts lost to Lancaster Mennonite for the second straight year.
The Red Knights, with three starters back from last season, and off to a 12-1 start, are positioned for a three-peat. They are unbeaten vs. Pennsylvania competition and ranked No. 2 in the Class 6A power ratings, percentage points behind unbeaten Cumberland Valley.
Reading High has won a record 23 District 3 titles but has only won three in a row once, from 1955-57.
The Saints boys have opened the season with 12 straight wins and are ranked No. 1 in the District 3 Class 4A power ratings. No. 2 Eastern York is also unbeaten. Berks Catholic won Class AAA titles in its first two seasons, 2012 and 2013, when the PIAA had just four classifications.
Fleetwood is also 12-0 and looking to return to its first championship game since 1990, when it beat Central Catholic for the Class A title.
Antietam and Lancaster Mennonite look like they’ll again battle it out for the Class 2A title. The Blazers are No. 1 in the district power ratings, the Mounts No. 2.
The Wyomissing girls won their 13th straight game Wednesday and are ranked No. 1 in the district Class 4A power ratings, just ahead of defending champ Delone Catholic, which is 11-1. The Spartans have not reached a district title game since 2004, when they lost to Delone.
The Berks Catholic girls are No 6 in the Class 4A power ratings. They played in their third district championship game last year.
The District 3 Tournament opens Monday, Feb. 20 with boys and girls games in five classifications and continues over the next two weeks.
All games will be played on the home floor of the higher-seeded team until the championship round.
Power ratings will be used to seed the tournament. The cutoff date for games to be counted in the power ratings is Feb. 15. The official brackets will be published on the District 3 website Feb. 16.
| PIAA qualifiers | ||
| GIRLS | BOYS | |
| 6A | 7 | 7 |
| 5A | 8 | 8 |
| 4A | 6 | 6 |
| 3A | 4 | 3 |
| 2A | 2 | 2 |
| 1A | 6 | 5 |
