Seedings and pairings for the girls’ basketball state tournament were released Saturday. No surprises at the top, where defending champions got the top seeds in the big school classes: Hopkins in Class 4A, DeLaSalle in 3A.

Rochester Lourdes, led by Ms. Basketball finalist Alyssa Ustby, picked up the No. 1 seed in Class 2A and defending champion Minneota was seeded No. 1 in Class 1A.

While Hopkins, which has won 60 consecutive games, was clearly going to be the top seed in Class 4A, the rest of the coaches' voting was characterized by the spectre of being stuck in Hopkins’ bracket, a fate no one wanted.

The No. 2 seed in 4A went to Section 1 champ Farmington (27-2), No. 3 to St. Michael-Albertville (19-8), No. 4 to Park Center (25-4) and No. 5 to Stillwater (23-5), the 2019 state tournament runner-up.

Eden Prairie, Lakeville North and Cambridge-Isanti were unseeded.

If any team has a beef with its seed, it’s likely Park Center. Not only did the No. 4-seeded Pirates finish with a significantly better record than No. 3 seed St. Michael-Albertville, but among their 25 victories was a 72-69 decision over the Knights in the season-opener.

The Class 4A quarterfinals schedule looks like this:

Wednesday / At Williams Arena
Cambridge-Isanti vs. Hopkins (1), 10 a.m.
Stillwater (5) vs. Park Center (4), noon
Eden Prairie vs. Farmington (2), 2 p.m.
Lakeville North vs. St. Michael-Albertville (3), 4 p.m.

In Class 3A, No. 1-ranked DeLaSalle, which lost its first three games of the season but has lost just once since, earned the No. 1 seed. The resume of the defending champion Islanders (24-4) includes victories over Class 4A tourney entrants St. Michael-Albertville and Eden Prairie.

Becker (26-2), which lost to DeLaSalle in the 2019 championship game, was seeded No. 2. Red Wing picked up the No. 3 seed, Simley was No. 4 and Holy Angels No. 5.

The Class 3A quarterfinals:

Wednesday / At Maturi Pavilion
Hermantown vs. DeLaSalle (1), 10 a.m.
Holy Angels (5) vs. Simley (4), noon
Alexandria vs. Becker (2), 2 p.m.
Waconia vs. Red Wing (3), 4 p.m.

A new champion was assured in Class 2A when Concordia Academy knocked off Minnehaha Academy 54-43 in the Section 2 championship game, but that result had little bearing on the seedings.

Top-seeded Rochester Lourdes (27-2) was No. 1 in the final Class 2A state rankings. The No. 2 seed went to Sauk Centre (28-2), No. 3 to New London-Spicer (28-1), which will be making its 18th state tournament appearance. Pelican Rapids picked up the No. 4 seed and Waseca No. 5. Concordia Academy, Providence Academy and Dulutl Marshall were unseeded.

Class 2A quarterfinals

Wednesday / At Williams Arena
Concordia Academy vs. Rochester Lourdes, 6 p.m.
Waseca vs. Pelican Rapids, 8 p.m.

Wednesday / At Maturi Pavilion
Providence Academy vs. Sauk Centre, 6 p.m.
Duluth Marshall vs. New London-Spicer, 8 p.m.

In Class 1A, Minneota, with just one loss, got the No. 1-seed. The defending champion Vikings (30-1), have won 17 consecutive games. The No. 2-seed went to Cromwell-Wright, No. 3 to Henning, No 4 to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and No. 5 to Heritage Christian. Red Lake, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and Fillmore Central were unseeded.

Class 1A quarterfinals 

Thursday / at Maturi Pavilion
Red Lake vs. Minneota (1), 11 a.m.
Heritage Christian (4) vs. Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (4), 1 p.m.
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa vs. Cromwell-Wright (2), 3 p.m.
Fillmore Central vs. Henning (3), 5 p.m.

The semifinals in Class 4A and 3A are Thursday at Williams Arena. For 2A and 1A, the semifinals are Friday at Williams. 

Championship games in all four classes are Saturday at Williams Arena.