AUGUSTA — The Messalonskee girls basketball team entered the season with lofty expectations after returning a deep and talented roster.

Ditto the Winthrop boys.

Waterville junior guard Mackenzie St. Pierre and Messalonskee junior guard Ally Turner fight for possession of the ball in the second half of a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A game Friday night. Photo by Dean Denis

The Eagles and Ramblers breezed through the regular season, each finishing 18-0, and will enter their respective tournaments as No. 1 seeds.

The Maine Principals’ Association finalized Heal points Saturday afternoon, three days ahead of the first batch of preliminary round games.

Let the tournaments begin.

A NORTH

The Messalonskee girls rolled through their competition, winning all but one game by at least 10 points. They will open the tournament Friday night at 8:30 at the Augusta Civic Center. Skowhegan (14-4) and Nokomis (14-4) follow as the second and third seeds, respectively.

Waterville (9-9) and Gardiner (11-7) are set to host prelim games Tuesday. Lawrence (12-6) will go in as the four seed and will play No. 5 Hampden (11-7) at 7 p.m. on Friday.

On the boys side, Gardiner (10-8) is the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 Messalonskee in a regional quarterfinal Saturday at 8 p.m., also at the ACC.

Nokomis (11-7) is the No. 6 seed while Cony (9-9), Skowhegan (9-9) and Erskine (8-10) will need prelim victories to reach the Civic Center.

No. 10 Erskine and No. 7 Cony will square off Wednesday in a rematch of the regular season finale Friday night, which the Rams won 42-40.

B NORTH

The Winslow boys (14-4) finished as the sixth seed and will host No. 11 Maine Central Institute (6-12) in a prelim game Wednesday. The teams split their regular season meetings, with Winslow winning 58-52 in December and MCI taking a 51-49 victory on Jan. 31. The winner will play No. 3 Central (15-3) at 5 p.m. Friday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Mount View (9-9), after upsetting Class A North playoff team Skowhegan on Friday, moved up to No. 8 and will host No. 9 Washington (9-9) in a prelim Wednesday.

On the girls side, No. 5 Winslow (16-2) will host No. 12 Mount View (6-12) in a prelim game Tuesday. The Black Raiders swept the regular season series, winning 56-14 and 73-19. No. 9 MCI will play at No. 8 Mount Desert Island in the prelims as well.

B SOUTH

The No. 4 Oak Hill boys (10-8) will play No. 5 Lincoln Academy at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Portland Expo. No. 6 Maranacook (7-11) will play No. 3 Wells (13-5) on Saturday at 10 a.m., also at the Expo.

C SOUTH

The Winthrop boys will make their tournament debut Monday, Feb. 20 at 9:30 p.m. in the Civic Center. No. 2 Richmond (16-1) and No. 3 Madison (15-3) will also be in action Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

No. 5 Hall-Dale (13-5) will host No. 12 Dirigo (5-13) in a prelim game Wednesday. The Bulldogs beat the Cougars 66-44 in the regular season.

The Richmond girls (18-0) earned the No. 1 seed and Monmouth (15-3) will go in at No. 3. The Mustangs will play No. 14 Searsport (8-10) in a prelim game Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Madison (13-5) will host St. Dominic in the prelims. No. 9 Winthrop (11-7) and No. 10 Mt. Abram (10-8) will play at Gould and Hebron, respectively, in prelim games Tuesday.

D SOUTH

Defending Class D state champ Rangeley (15-3) earned the top seed in the girls field. It will host No. 8 Valley (4-14) at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 21. No. 3 Temple (13-5) will play No. 6 Greenville (8-10) at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 20. No. 5 Forest Hills (10-8) will play No. 4 Pine Tree Academy (13-5) at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 21. All games will be at the Augusta Civic Center.

On the boys side, No. 3 Valley (11-7) will play No. 6 Vinalhaven at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. No. 7 Temple (8-10) will play No. 2 Gould (15-3) at 10 a.m. on Saturday. No, 4 Forest Hills (12-6) will play No. 5 Seacoast Christian (11-7) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday as well.

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