Girls Tournament Draw: West M nabs top seed in East District; Sheridan girls third in SE

More: Great eight: Sheridan's Vise-Grip on MVL girls basketball remains strong as ever.

More: Saturday Roundup: West M, Sheridan girls claim MVL titles

ZANESVILLE — As the regular season nears an end, area teams found out their tournament seeds and draws on Sunday.

This year's teams were seeded by the OHSAA RPI, instead of coaches' votes like past years.

The RPI Formula is a total of 40% win percentage plus 35% opponents' win percentage plus 25% opponents' opponents' win percentage. This formula was developed by the coaches association and adopted by the OHSAA. RPI was also powered by scores through MaxPreps.

East District

West Muskingum edged out Wintersville Indian Creek for the top seed in Division II. The Tornadoes had an RPI of 0.642793 to Creek's 0.642764.

Martins Ferry earned the third seed followed by Carrollton in fourth, West Holmes in fifth and John Glenn in sixth. Other area teams in the 21-team division were Philo 10th, Morgan 13th, Maysville 16th, Zanesville 17th, Cambridge 19th, River View 20th and Coshocton 21st.

All sectional games are at the higher seed, and all district games will be played at neutral sites.

The Tornadoes host the 17th-seeded Lady Devils at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, and the winner will welcome Coshocton at 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 24.

Philo is on the same side of the sectional and heads to ninth seed East Liverpool at 1 p.m. Feb. 24, and the winner would see West Muskingum, Zanesville or Coshocton in the district semifinal.

The bottom half of the bracket sees fifth seed West Holmes open with 15th seed Minerva on Feb. 21, and that winner takes on Morgan at 1 p.m. Feb. 24, while eighth seed Dover welcomes 11th seed Harrison Central at 1 p.m. Feb. 24.

West Muskingum coach Josh Middleton was surprised to see some higher seeds jump to the other district bracket, but also knows his team needs to be ready for Zanesville.

"They're going to come to play so we can't look past them," Middleton said. "We've been down early in games with John Glenn and Tri-Valley, and this team doesn't panic. They don't get too high or too low. They grind and find a way."

The Tornadoes won their first MVL title since 2013 after topping Morgan on Saturday and have been led by a plethora of players, including Jayden Thornton, Addy Antonetz, Taylor Spung and Laney Johnson. Having that depth has been among the reasons why Middleton's squad has found itself in this position.

"This group is unselfish, and they have a good basketball IQ," he said. "They seem to figure things out pretty fast. We want to dictate the tempo and play our game. We keep preaching that if we play hard, think smart and stay unselfish, then we will be successful."

The other Division II bracket in the East District has Cambridge heading to Indian Creek at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 with the winner playing River View at 1 p.m. Feb. 24.

Martins Ferry gets the winner of seventh seed Steubenville and 14th seed Beaver Local at 1 p.m. Feb. 24, while 16th seed Maysville plays either fourth seed Carrollton or 18th seed New Philadelphia at 1 p.m. Feb. 24, and John Glenn welcomes 12th seed Indian Valley at 1 p.m. Feb. 24.

The district semifinals are slated for 7 p.m. Feb. 28, and the district finals are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, March 2.

In Division III, the top seed went to Fort Frye with Tuscarawas Valley second. Ridgewood was fifth, Meadowbrook eighth and Buckeye Trail 12th out of 13 teams to highlight local teams.

The Generals welcome seventh seed Barnesville at 7 p.m. Feb. 21, and the winner gets third seed Union Local or Buckeye Trail at 1 p.m. Feb. 24. UL and Trail also play at 7 p.m. Feb. 21.

Meadowbrook awaits the winner of fourth seed Bellaire or ninth seed Sandy Valley at 1 p.m. Feb. 24.

Hiland drew the top seed in Division IV with Hannibal River second and Monroe Central third. Rosecrans was 12th out of 18 teams.

The Bishops play at eighth-seed Steubenville Catholic Central at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19, and the winner takes on 10th-seed Shadyside at 7 p.m. Feb. 21.

Southeast District

Sheridan finished as the third seed (RPI: 0.705710), as Proctorville Fairland, who made the final four last season, earned the top seed (0.721085) and Circleville was second (0.713947). Chillicothe Unioto was fourth and Marietta fifth out of 19 teams.

The Generals face the winner of 14th seed Fairfield Union or 19th seed Wellston at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 at Logan.

The district semifinal will be at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24 at Southeastern, and the district final, potentially against second seed Circleville, is slated for 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28.

Coach J.D. Walters felt the draw went similar to his expectations, but hopes there could be some tweaks to future draws.

"They need to factor in school size. A win over a Division I team from the OCC shouldn't count the same as a win over a Division III school," Walters said. "Also the Southeast is the only district where coaches don't put themselves on the bracket. I think with this setup, coaches should be put themselves where they want."

There is unfinished business for Sheridan. The Generals watched a late lead disappear in a loss to Chillicothe Unioto in last year's district final. This team is looking for redemption.

"Our motto this year was 'Finish.' Not just finishing around the rim, but finish strong at the end of each quarter and game," Walters said. "This team has been consistent, especially with our defense and rebounding. We need to continue to execute our offense and go through our progressions. As you face better teams, the first option isn't always going to be there, so finding our second or third is important."

New Lexington was the ninth seed and will face eighth seed Vincent Warren at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 at Logan High School. The winner will likely face Fairland in the district semifinal at 6:15 p.m. Feb. 22 at Chillicothe Southeastern High School.

Crooksville was 29th out of 31 seeds in Division III and travels to 20th seed Piketon at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12. The winner advances to play fifth seed North Adams at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 at Waverly High School.

Central District

Tri-Valley earned the 16th seed in Division I out of 48 teams. The Scotties will host the winner of 23rd seed Newark and 24th seed Grove City at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24.

The district semifinal will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28 at a site to be determined. The winner between Tri-Valley, Newark or Grove City will likely face fourth seed Olentangy Liberty.

bhannahs@gannett.com; X: @brandonhannahs

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Girls Tournament Draw: West M earns top seed; Sheridan girls third in Southeast