GIRLS BASKETBALL: State tournament begins Wednesday

The Class A tournament will begin Thursday.

First-round action is scheduled for Williams Arena and Target Center while the championship semifinals and finals will be played at the Target Center.

The state field includes all four defending champions. Last year Maranatha Christian Academy won the Class A title, Providence Academy claimed the Class 2A crown, DeLaSalle captured the Class 3A championship and Hopkins won the Class 4A title.

Tournament officials have ranked the top five teams in the Class 3A and Class 4A divisions and earning the top spots were Richfield in 3A and Hopkins in Class 4A. The Class A and Class 2A teams were not ranked.

Today’s action at Williams Arena begins with the Class 3A quarterfinals. At 10 a.m. top-seeded Richfield (26-3) will take on unranked Hill-Murray (19-10) and at noon No. 4 New Prague (22-6) will tangle with No. 5 Red Wing (21-7).

Today’s afternoon session at Williams Arena finds second seeded DeLaSalle (25-4) meeting unseeded Chisago Lakes (22-7) at 2 p.m. and third-seeded Fergus Falls (29-0) facing unseeded Monticello (24-5) at 4 p.m.

The Class 4A teams open play today at the Target Center. The morning session finds No. 1 Hopkins (28-1) squaring off against unseeded St. Michael-Albertville (24-5) and No. 4 Osseo (21-8) meeting No. 5 St. Paul Central (26-4).

MINNEAPOLIS – The 2013 Minnesota State High School girls basketball tournament begins today with action in the Class 2A, Class 3A and Class 4A divisions.

At 2 p.m. second seeded Bloomington Kennedy (26-3) will tangle with unseeded Anoka (20-9) and the 4 p.m. game pits No. 3 Eastview (27-2) against unranked Rochester Mayo (21-7).

The Class 2A teams own the spotlight for today’s evening sessions. The Target Center schedule finds Providence Academy (24-4) meeting Pine Island (26-5) and Braham (30-0) tangling with BOLD (26-3).

Tonight at Williams Arena, Minneapolis Washburn (22-7) will face Sauk Centre (27-2) and New Richland (29-1) will battle Pelican Rapids (21-7).

The opening round of the Class A tournament will be Thursday at William’s Arena. At 11 a.m. Upsala (26-4) will face Bethlehem Academy (24-4) and at 1 p.m. Mountain Iron-Buhl (28-2) will square off against Minneota (27-2).

Maranatha (26-4) will play Ada-Borup (26-3) at 3 p.m. and Mankato Loyola (26-3) will battle Win-E-Mac (26-2) at 5 p.m.

The championship semifinals for Class 3A and Class 4A will be Thursday while Class A and Class 2A will have their semifinals on Friday.