Central and Nashville top seeds among local 2A girls teams

Central and Nashville, which are both state ranked, are the two local favorites in the Class 2A girls basketball regionals.

The playoff pairings for the two small-school classes were released on Friday.

Central (ranked seventh in the state in Class 2A) is seeded No. 1 at the Caryle Regional. They are 4-0 against the three next highest seeds — No. 2 Carlyle, No. 3 Columbia and No. 4 Wesclin.

The Cougars haven’t played fifth-seeded Sandoval or sixth-seeded Dupo.

Central and Carlyle will meet on Thursday at Carlyle High School in a Cahokia Conference matchup that could be a prelude to the championship game of the Carlyle Regional.

Nashville (ranked third in the state in Class 2A) is seeded No. 1 in the Pinckneyville Regional.

The Hornets have beaten second-seeded Freeburg, third-seeded Pinckneyville and fourth-seeded Sparta. They haven’t played third-seeded Red Bud or six-seeded Chester.

A Nashville-Freeburg final could be interesting because Nashville barely got past Freeburg 35-33 early this season.

The winners of the Carlyle and Pinckneyville Regionals wouldn’t meet until the championship of the Sesser-Valier Sectional.

Here are the regional pairings:

Girls Basketball

Class 2A

Carlyle Regional

Monday, Feb. 6

Game 1: (4) Wesclin vs. (5) Sandoval, 6 p.m.

Game 2: (3) Columbia vs. (6) Dupo, 8:10 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 7

Game 3: (1) Central vs. Winner Game 1, 6 p.m.

Game 4: (2) Carlyle vs. Winner Game 2, 8:10 p.m.