The Marathon and Moravia girls basketball are heading to the Sectional IV Class C playoffs, which begin Wednesday. Moravia remains state-ranked at 18th and will open sectionals with a home game.
Moravia (14-3) is the third seed in and will host No. 14 Oxford (10-10) at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The winner will take on the winner of No. 6 Union Springs (15-4) and No. 11 Richfield Springs/Owen D. Young (14-4).
Moravia enters the tournament as the reigning champions and returns most of its starting lineup from last year’s state title run, led by Caraline Wasileski, Jessalyn Jones and Olivia Genson. Moravia is coming off a win in the IAC small school championship over Candor.
Oxford comes in at .500, but it does have a win at Marathon earlier this season, a place Moravia lost its final regular season game in its quest for 11 wins in a row.
Marathon (10-9) enters the tournament as the No. 13 seed and will head to No. 4 Elmira Notre Dame (12-7) at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The winner will take on the winner of No. 5 Unatego (13-4) and No. 13 Odessa-Montour (11-9).
While Marathon had an uneven season, it finished with a big upset over Moravia and will enter sectionals with some momentum. Addie Oram and Audrey Ensign lead a balanced unit that’s shown the potential to shake things up.
Elmira Notre Dame enters with a strong record and higher seed, but it still holds a negative-5 point differential on the year. The two teams did not face off this year.
“We were excited to see our matchup with Elmira Notre Dame,” Marathon coach Beth Anne Duncan said. “It’s an unfamiliar opponent for us. We will lean on our seasoned veterans who have been here before. This will be Addie’s fourth trip to sectionals on varsity and Catherine (Newkirk) and Audrey’s third trip.”
Moravia and Marathon are on different sides of the bracket, meaning they cannot face off until the sectional final.
