Lebanon Co. sends 7 hoops teams to District 3 tournament

When the District 3 basketball tournament begins Feb. 20-21, Lebanon County will not only be well-represented, but county teams will be highly seeded, too.

Seven county teams earned qualification to the tournament, based on the final power rankings released Friday afternoon. Of those seven, there is a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, a pair of No. 3 seeds and a No. 4.

Northern Lebanon's girls are the top seed in Class 4A, Cedar Crest's girls are seeded No. 2 in 6A, the boys teams from Lebanon (6A) and Palmyra (5A) are both No. 3 seeds, and in 1A girls, Lebanon Catholic has the No. 4 seed.

Lebanon (18-4) has a bye in the first round, and will host the winner of No. 11 Chambersburg (13-8) at No. 6 (Central Dauphin East (14-8) in the quarterfinals on Friday, Feb. 24.

The county's other team in 6A boys is No. 8 Cedar Crest (15-7), which will host No. 9 Central York (15-7) in a first-round game on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Palmyra's boys (19-3) will host No. 14 Dover (14-8) on Monday, Feb. 20 in a first-round affair.

The NL girls (21-1) have a first-round bye, and will host the winner of No. 9 Susquehanna Township (10-12) at No. 8 Berks Catholic (11-9) in a quarterfinal on Feb. 24.

Cedar Crest's girls also receive a bye, then are bound to play a familiar face in a quarterfinals on Thursday, Feb. 23. The Falcons will host the winner of Section 1 teams Hempfield (No. 10, 14-8) vs. McCaskey (No. 7, 15-7).

Lebanon Catholic's first game will be a Feb. 24 quarterfinal, when the Beavers (16-6) host No. 5 Christian School of York (16-6).

In Class 5A, the Palmyra girls (13-9) are seeded No. 11 and will travel to No. 6 seed Twin Valley (18-4) in a first-rounder on Feb. 21.

Official pairings, which include times and will verify all sites, will not be released by District 3 until Monday.