State Tournament Pairings Announced

Connecticut's high school version of March Madness is officially upon us.

The CIAC announced the pairings for this season's girls' basketball state tournaments on Wednesday.

The Shoreline Conference was well-represented, with seven schools making the Class S tournament and two qualifying for Class M. Four of the top six seeds in Class S are from the Shoreline.

First-round games in Class S begin Feb. 28, including Hale-Ray (10-10) at Windsor Locks (12-8). Portland (17-3), East Hampton (16-4), Coginchaug (17-3) and Cromwell (17-3) all earned first-round byes and will play second-round games on March 3.

In Class M, a qualifying round will be held Feb. 25 and 26. First-round games begin March 1. Among the first-round games, Haddam-Killingworth (10-10) will travel to Bristol to take on No. 5 seed St. Paul (16-4), the 2010 Class S champion.

The bottom half of the Class S bracket has a distinctive Shoreline Conference flavor to it. Six of the 12 teams are from  the Shoreline, including No. 6 seed East Hampton, No. 3 Coginchaug and No. 2 Cromwell, three of the four teams that made it to the semifinals of the Shoreline Conference tournament.

In the upper half of the bracket, No. 4 seed Portland is the only team from the Shoreline. The Highlanders share their bracket with No. 1 seed Capitol Prep (17-3), a magnet school out of Hartford.

The top five teams in Class S all finished with 17-3 regular season records. The top seed in Class M is undefeated Lewis Mills (20-0) out of Burlington, one of two girls' teams in the state that finished the regular season undefeated. Bacon Academy is the other.

To view the Class S bracket, click here.

To view the Class M bracket, click here.

To view the Class L bracket, click here.

To view the Class LL bracket, click here.