The postseason has arrived for Class AA girls basketball in South Dakota and it's the first time the Round of 16 format will be used for the class.

This is the first year that the old district and region format will not be used for Class AA. This past summer the activities directors and South Dakota High School Activities Association voted to implement the Round of 16 playoff format for Class AA following the success of the system in Class A and B. The idea is to simply rank the teams 1-16 and play it out in a traditional tournament. Teams 17 (Douglas) and 18 (Huron) missed the postseason.

The Round of 16 games will be played on Friday (March 2) at the highest seeded gym. Unlike Class A and Class B, the bracket will NOT be reseeded following this round. Essentially, the state tournament begins this week.

Aberdeen Central regained the top seed in the tournament following a Sturgis win over Rapid City Central. The win from Sturgis gave Aberdeen Central an extra three seed points that put them ahead of Lincoln. The Patriots will enter the tournament as the 2nd seed.

O'Gorman and Washington will both host a Round of 16 game also. O'Gorman went 15-5 and secured the 4th seed, while Washington battled back from a 1-8 start to finish 8-11. Washington, based on strength of schedule/seed points, will be the 7th seed.

Roosevelt made the tournament after going 4-16 during the regular season. They will be the 14th seed and will travel to Rapid City Stevens on Friday night.

Here is the official bracket for the Round of 16.

SDHSAA
SDHSAA
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Admission into each Round of 16 game is $7 for adults and $5 for students. No passes will be allowed for the Round of 16 games.

The state tournament will be held at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center March 15-17. All-session tickets are available through Ticketmaster.


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