Hollis Brookline gets top seed in D2 girls basketball tourney

Despite losing its final regular season game, the Hollis Brookline High School girls basketball team is the No. 1 seed entering the Division II tournament, which starts Tuesday.

The Cavaliers (17-1) edged out No. 2 Lebanon (17-1) on overall rating, thanks to an extra road win during the regular season.

Souhegan (14-4), the defending champion, is the sixth seed, while Bedford (14-4) came in eighth.

The Cavaliers will open the tournament by hosting No. 16 Oyster River (7-11) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. HB won the regular-season meeting between the two teams, winning on the road 58-40 on Jan. 6.

The winner of that game will face either No. 8 Bedford or No. 9 Windham (13-5) in the quarterfinals. Bedford and Windham will also play Tuesday at 7, the third meeting between the teams this season. Windham won round one in the championship game of the Nashua North Holiday Tournament, and Bedford took round two on Jan. 11, 62-59.

Coe-Brown (15-3) is seeded fourth and will host No. 13 Hanover (9-9) in the preliminary round. The winner of that game will get either No. 5 Kearsarge (14-4) or No. 12 Pembroke (9-9) in the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the bracket, Lebanon will host No. 15 Kingswood (7-11) to open the tournament, and the winner will face either No. 7 Portsmouth (14-4) or No. 10 Goffstown (10-8) in the quarterfinals.

Souhegan will host No. 11 Kennett (10-8) in the first round Tuesday. The teams didn't play during the regular season, and it will be the Eagles first visit to Amherst since upsetting the Sabers in the quarterfinals in 2010.

The winner will take on either No. 3 Merrimack Valley (15-3) or No. 14 Pelham (7-10) in the quarterfinals.

All quarterfinal games are scheduled for March 2 at the home of the higher seed, and the semifinals will be played March 5 at Southern New Hampshire University. The final is set for March 9 at 7 p.m., also at SNHU.