By SETH STASKEY

Times Leader Sports Editor

BELLAIRE — The road to an Ohio Valley Athletic Conference championship is set.

The OVAC Basketball Championship Committee met Tuesday morning at the OVAC office to formally nail down the pairings for the semifinals, which will be played on Monday at the higher seed’s gym, and the consolation matchups for those teams that didn’t qualify into the top four.

The winners of Monday’s games will advance to play at Ohio University Eastern in St. Clairsville on Saturday, Feb. 9 in the Wheeling Hospital OVAC Girls Basketball Championship games.

A new champion is promised in three of the five classes. Only River (2A) and Cameron (1A) will have the ability to repeat. Wheeling Central is the defending 3A champion, but has dropped to 2A. Neither Cambridge (4A) or Parkersburg South (5A) qualified for the field.

The championship game schedule has undergone a minor change. One ticket will now be honored throughout the day unlike years past when the gym was cleared between each game. The title games will begin at 10 a.m. and tip off every two hours. The order of the title games is 3A, 4A, 5A, 1A and 2A.

Complete consolation pairings can be found on Page B3

Here’s a look at the semifinal pairings in each class:

CLASS 5A

By virtue of its head-to-head win over Indian Creek Monday evening, Wheeling Park catapulted into the top seed in the class by half a point over the Redskins

Coach Ryan Young’s Patriots are currently 13-4 and will welcome University, which is 12-5, on Monday.

Wheeling Park, which won the big-school title in 2017, owns 13 OVAC titles, which trails only St. John for the most all time. University, a relative newcomer to the OVAC, won its only title in 2013.

In the other semifinal, Indian Creek, which has now lost two games in a row after a 15-0 start, will welcome John Marshall on Monday. The Monarchs are 13-5 on the season.

Creek won its only three OVAC titles in succession from 2008-10, while the Monarchs are bidding for their 10th title, but first since 2002.

CLASS 4A

In arguably the most wide-open class of the five, St. Clairsville earned the top seed in a field, which features four Buckeye 8 Athletic League members.

Coach Stacey Agnew’s Red Devils are in the tournament for the second straight season, but will be on their home boards this time around. St. C. hasn’t won an OVAC title in girls’ hoops since 2007 and own six overall.

The Red Devils will have to contend with Martins Ferry, which has turned it on of late. The Purple Riders have won four games in a row and could become the first school to win a conference title with a sub .500 record.

Coach Paul Matuska’s team is currently 7-11 on the season. Ferry last won an OVAC title in 2009 and have six total banners.

Beaver Local nailed down the two seed by fighting off Harrison Central in double overtime on Monday. The Beavers are 9-7 on the season and have never won an OVAC title in girls basketball.

Buckeye Local, which played in the conference title game last season, pocketed the third seed despite a late-season tailspin, which has seen it lose seven games in a row and only two games in January.

Now sitting at 8-9, the Panthers will meet Beaver Local for the third time. The teams split their earlier meetings. Buckeye’s lone girls’ basketball title came in 1992.

CLASS 3A

Bellaire was the wire-to-wire leader in this class for the third straight season. Now, head coach John Farrier’s team is looking to get over the hump once again.

Last season, the Big Reds advanced to the championship game before falling to Wheeling Central in the final. Bellaire last won an OVAC title in girls hoops in 2006 and owns seven overall.

The Big Reds path to title number eight begins with a date with county-rival Union Local, which has already suffered two losses to the Big Reds this season.

The Jets, who fell on Monday at John Marshall, dropped to the fourth seed and are currently 10-8. Union Local has won six OVAC titles, including three in the tournament format.

In the other half of the bracket, Fort Frye has had a stranglehold on the second seed for the bulk of the season. Coach Dan Liedtke’s team is 13-2 on the season and is seeking its 10th OVAC title. The Cadets have won five crowns in the playoff era.

CLASS 2A

Shadyside and defending champion River had a tooth-and-nail battle for the top seed for much of the season before the Tigers pulled away in the last couple of weeks.

Coach Serge Gentile’s team, which is 17-3, has won four in a row since losing to River on Jan. 14.

The Tigers, who have won seven OVAC titles in school history, are seeking their first since 2013. They finished as runnerup to the Pilots last season.

Shadyside has no easy task ahead in fourth-seeded Wheeling Central. The Maroon Knights, who have won its class two straight seasons, four off Clay-Battelle for the fourth seed.

Coach Penn Kurtz’s team, which has battled injuries, is currently 9-8 on the season.

River, which owns five OVAC titles, will begin its quest for number six against third-seeded Steubenville Catholic. The Pilots are 15-4 on the season.

The Crusaders, who haven’t won an OVAC title since 1989, are 11-7 on the season.

CLASS 1A

Madonna and Beallsville have been atop the 1A standings for basically the entire season and formally locked down the home games as the one and two seeds, respectively.

The Blue Dons are 12-4 on the season and own 11 conference titles. Their last came in 2011.

For Madonna to have a crack at number 12, it will have to deal with fourth-seeded Trinity Christian at 12-6. The Warriors have won just one OVAC title (2012) in their brief time in the conference.

Beallsville, which fell to Cameron in the title game last winter, will meet the Dragons once again. The Blue Devils, who have played a challenging schedule, are 14-3 and are vying for their first OVAC title since 2010 and seventh overall.

Cameron, meanwhile, has posted a solid 12-4 record. The Dragons’ title last year was the first in school history.