Menahga and Park Rapids received No. 1 seeds and will open the section girls basketball playoffs at home.
Menahga (25-1) received the No. 1 seed in the North half of Section 5A and will play either No. 8 Nevis or No. 9 Bertha-Hewitt Thursday night (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. Nevis (4-21) hosts Bertha-Hewitt (4-20) Monday night (Feb. 25) at 7 in a first-round game. Nevis defeated Bertha-Hewitt 54-33 on Feb. 19.
Park Rapids received the No. 1 seed in the South for the Section 8AA playoffs with a 13-10 record and will host No. 8 Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (3-19) Thursday night (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. The Panthers defeated LP-GE 65-29 on Dec. 14.
In the other first-round game of the Section 5A tournament on Monday (Feb. 25), No. 7 Browerville/Eagle Valley (4-21) hosts No. 10 Laporte (0-25) with the winner playing at No. 2 Pine River-Backus (22-4) Thursday night (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. The other games on Feb. 28 pit No. 3 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (21-5) hosting No. 6 McGregor (8-14) and No. 4 Sebeka (16-9) hosting No. 5 Verndale (15-8).
The Section 5A North semifinals will be played at the Park Rapids Century School gym on March 2 at 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. with Park Rapids hosting the Section 5A North championship game on March 5 at 7 p.m.
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In the other Section 8AA South games on Feb. 28, No. 2 Breckenridge (13-10) hosts No. 7 Frazee (2-23), No. 3 Perham (12-14) hosts No. 6 Wadena-Deer Creek (7-18) and No. 4 Barnesville (9-17) hosts No. 5 Staples-Motley (6-17).
The first-round games in the Section 8AA North bracket feature No. 1 Roseau (24-2) hosting No. 8 Bagley (2-24), No. 2 East Grand Forks (18-7) hosting No. 7 Warroad (2-24), No. 3 Hawley (15-7) hosting No. 6 Thief River Falls (4-19) and No. 4 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (17-9) hosting No. 5 Crookston (15-10).
The second round of the Section 8AA tournament moves to Concordia College in Moorhead with quarterfinals on March 2. The Park Rapids vs. LP-GE winner will play the D-G-F vs. Crookston winner at 6 p.m. Concordia will also host the section semifinals on March 4 with either Concordia or the University of Minnesota Crookston hosting the section title game on March 8.
