Bishop Guertin wins tiebreaker with Winnacunnet, gets top seed in D1 girls basketball

The Bishop Guertin and Winnacunnet high school girls basketball teams couldn't have been any more identical when it came to beating opponents in Division I this season.

Both finished the season 17-1, with a win against every one else in the division, including each other. While that seems like a tiebreaking nightmare for the NHIAA, it wasn't. According to the tiebreaking procedures, rating is what breaks a tie, not record. While the Cardinals and the Warriors split the head-to-head meetings this year, Bishop Guertin had a better rating against tournament teams, thanks to having one more road win than Winnacunnet.

That means the Cardinals will have a rematch against No. 16 Concord (2-16) in the first round of the tournament. Bishop Guertin defeated Concord 71-32 on Feb. 24, and will host the Crimson Tide again on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The winner will face either No. 9 Nashua South (8-10) or No. 8 Keene (9-9) in the quarterfinals. Keene will host South, also on Wednesday, and defeated the Panthers by one-point at home on Dec. 13. South earned a win at home over the Blackbirds on Feb. 17, part of a stretch in which the Panthers won six of their final seven games.

No. 4 Manchester Memorial (14-4) will host No. 13 Timberlane (7-11) in the preliminary round Wednesday, with the winner facing either No. 12 Trinity (7-11) or No. 5 Pinkerton (13-5) in the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Winnacunnet hosts No. 15 Exeter (5-13) to open the tournament, while No. 7 Dover (11-7) hosts No. 10 Manchester Central (8-10). The winner of those two games will meet in the quarterfinals.

No. 11 Alvirne (7-11) plays at No. 6 Nashua North (12-6) on Wednesday, the third time those two teams will meet. North took the first meeting on Dec. 9 and Alvirne took the rematch on Jan. 3. The winner of that game faces either No. 3 Londonderry (16-2) or No. 14 Salem (7-11) in the quarterfinals.

All quarterfinal games are scheduled for March 3 at 7 p.m. at the higher seed, while the semifinals will be held March 7 at Southern New Hampshire University, starting at 5:30 p.m. The final will be held March 10 at 7:30 p.m., also at SNHU.