Girls state basketball tourney begins

DES MOINES - The 2021 Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament tips off today (Monday), and that signifies a two-week stretch of full court action at Wells Fargo arena. Per usual, the girls will own the court this week, with the boys tournament beginning one week later.

The 2021 tournament begins at 9 a.m., with the Class 5A tournament starting things off. Waukee is the top seed in Class 5A, bringing in a 10-1 record. The Warriors will face No. 8 Dowling Catholic in the first of 55 girls basketball games, which will wittle the field down to the state's five champions.

After four Class 5A games, Class 3A will tip off at 5 p.m., when No. 1 Cherokee plays No. 8 Davenport Assumption. At 7 p.m., the Southeast Iowa Super Conference's only representative, One-loss West Burlington will be the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 West Lyon in a game that wills urely have lots of Southeast Iowa eyes watching. That game will be the final one of the night.

The Class 3A schedule will bleed into Tuesday, which will see a pair of 3A cames, all four Class 4A games and one 2A contest. In Class 4A, fifth-seeded North Scott, which defeated Fairfield in the regional final, will take on No. 4 Dewitt, at 1 p.m.

The first round of action will last all the way up until Wednesday night. Class 1A's first round will take place throughout Wednesday. One game of note on the schedule is the clash between No. 1 Bishop Garrigan and No. 8 Springville, which is set for 2 p.m. Springville came out of the local Class 1A regional, defeating Burlington Notre Dame in the final after Notre Dame knocked off Winfield-Mt. Union in the semifinals.

Monday's state tournament schedule

Class 5A

No. 1 Waukee vs. No. 8 Dowling Catholic (9 a.m.)

No. 4 Southeast Polk vs. No. 5 Ankeny Centennial (11 a.m.)

No. 2 Johnston vs. No. 7 Cedar Falls (1 p.m.)

No. 3 Waterloo West vs. No. 6 Iowa City West (3 p.m.)

CLASS 3A

No. 1 Cherokee vs. No. 8 Davenport Assumption (5 p.m.)

No. 7 West Lyon vs. No. 5 West Burlington (7 p.m.)