The St. Mary’s girls basketball team being the top seed in the CCL Cup was all but a formality, but Tuesday afternoon it became official when the Catholic Central League released its brackets for the four winter sport tournaments. The Spartans, who currently stand at 15-2 with two non-conference games to play in the regular season, only lost one CCL game all year.
The CCL Cup will begin Feb. 12, with the tournament final for each bracket taking place on Feb. 20. There will be a one-day conference meet for swimming and diving, which will take place Feb. 20 as well.
The rest of the girls basketball bracket is made up of No. 2 Bishop Feehan (the only CCL team to beat St. Mary’s this year), No. 3 Bishop Fenwick, No. 4 Archbishop Williams, No. 5 Cathedral, No. 6 Bishop Stang, No. 7 Arlington Catholic, No. 8 Austin Prep and No. 9 Cardinal Spellman.
With an unbalanced bracket, each of the top seven seeds has earned a first-round bye. The first round of the tournament will consist of a matchup between Austin Prep and Cardinal Spellman Saturday morning (10:30), with the winner of that game moving on to play St. Mary’s in the quarterfinal round Monday evening (6).
Other quarterfinal games in the girls basketball bracket include Cathedral at Williams Friday night (6), Stang at Fenwick Saturday afternoon (1) and Arlington Catholic at Feehan Saturday afternoon (12).
In boys basketball, Williams took the top seed while St. Mary’s and Fenwick slotted in at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. The rest of the bracket is made up of No. 2 Feehan, No. 3 Austin Prep, No. 6 Cathedral, No. 7 Spellman, No. 8 Arlington Catholic and No. 9 Stang.
As is the case in girls basketball, the boys basketball bracket will see the top seven teams earn a first-round bye. The first-round game will be held Saturday afternoon (1) between Arlington Catholic and Stang, with the winner moving on to face Williams Monday evening (6).
Other quarterfinal games in boys basketball include a rivalry matchup between St. Mary’s and Fenwick Sunday afternoon (2) at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium, Spellman at Feehan Friday evening (6) and Cathedral at Austin Prep Friday evening (6).
Over on the ice, the girls hockey team at Matignon took the top spot and was the lone team to earn a first-round bye. The rest of the bracket is made up of No. 2 Austin Prep, No. 3 St. Mary’s, No. 4 Fenwick, No. 5 Arlington Catholic, No. 6 Williams and No. 7 Feehan.
The girls hockey bracket skips right to the quarterfinal round. Fenwick will take on Arlington Catholic Saturday evening (6:20) at Essex Sports Center, with the winner moving on to face Matignon in the semifinal round.
Other quarterfinal games in girls hockey include Williams at St. Mary’s Saturday night (7:20) and Feehan at Austin Prep Saturday morning (11:10).
The boys hockey bracket is the smallest of the four tournaments, with only four teams — No. 1 Williams, No. 2 St. Mary’s, No. 3 Arlington Catholic and No. 4 Feehan — making the cut. There will be no first-round byes, with the two quarterfinal games set for next Wednesday. St. Mary’s will host Arlington Catholic at a time to be determined, while Williams will host Feehan at 7:10 p.m.
If schools with teams that are eliminated from tournament play choose to play additional games against other teams that lost or against a non-league opponent, the schools may do so until Feb. 21. Schools may also choose to end their seasons upon elimination.
