Souhegan, Milford girls will meet again in D2 playoffs

Two times just wasn't enough for the Souhegan High School and Milford High School girls basketball teams.

The Sabers and Spartans will meet for a third time in the first round of the Division II tournament, the pairings for which were released Monday.

Souhegan (18-0) capped an undefeated regular season with a win Saturday over Con-Val and enters as the tournament's No. 1 seed. Milford (6-12) beat Bishop Brady in its final game of the regular season last Tuesday, and finished 16th after Plymouth lost to Merrimack Valley last Thursday.

The Sabers won both regular-season games, including a 54-43 win on Jan. 4 that was closer than the final score. The preliminary round game is scheduled for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Amherst.

The winner will face either No. 8 Portsmouth (12-6) or No. 9 Windham (11-7) in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Hollis/Brookline (15-3) is the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will host No. 12 John Stark (11-7) in a preliminary round game Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Hollis. The teams played once during the regular season, with the Cavaliers winning 51-39 Feb. 7 on the road.

The winner will take on either No. 4 Merrimack Valley (16-2) or No. 13 Coe-Brown (8-10) Friday in the quarterfinals.

Lebanon (17-1) is the No. 2 seed and it will host No. 15 Laconia (8-10) in the first round, with the winner advancing to face either No. 7 Kearsarge (13-5) or No. 10 Hanover (11-7) in the quarterfinals.

Bedford (11-7) is the 11th seed and will travel to face No. 6 Oyster River (13-5) in the opening round. The winner of that game will take on either No. 3 Kennett (17-1) or No. 14 St. Thomas (8-10) in the quarterfinals.

The Division II semifinals are scheduled for March 7, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Southern New Hampshire University. The championship game will then be held March 11 at 7 p.m., also at SNHU.