Coming off its ninth consecutive Division I district championship, Pickerington Central is the dean of the girls basketball regional tournament this week at Otterbein.

Tigers coach Chris Wallace cited the rest of the field as evidence that nothing has been easy for his program in a stretch that has included a state championship in 2018, a runner-up finish in 2019 and a state semifinal appearance last season.

Olentangy Liberty, which will face Central in the second regional semifinal at 8 p.m. Tuesday, won its first district title since 2015.

It’s been a much longer wait for the other two semifinalists. Olentangy is in its first regional since 1998, and its opponent in the 6 p.m. semifinal, Watterson, hadn’t won district since 2004.

“It’s not that easy, is it?” Wallace said. “You see all the different teams in the regional. It’s hard to do this, a streak like this. It should be fun.”

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With nine area teams still playing, here are five storylines entering the regional tournament:

1. Olentangy, Watterson mark returns to regional

Even if Olentangy (24-1) was an odds-on favorite to win district thanks to its No. 2 seed and top ranking in the final Associated Press state poll, second-year coach Jamie Edwards still got goosebumps when longtime coach John Feasel congratulated him after Saturday’s 57-40 win over Upper Arlington.

Edwards coached Cardington to a Division III district championship in 2020, but after 20 years teaching at Olentangy and having previously served as an assistant in the program under Feasel, this title was particularly special. Feasel now coaches Olentangy’s boys.

“It’s been good to re-put that energy in the program,” Edwards said. “This program was on its way down. To be back here, No. 1 in the AP poll in two years, everybody believes in what we’re doing.”

Sophomore guard Whitney Stafford (17.3 points, 5.9 rebounds) and freshman forward Sydney Mobley (17.0 points, 11.9 rebounds) lead the way.

Junior guard Sophie Ziel (17.2 points) has been key to Watterson’s resurgence. The Eagles, who have reached a district semifinal every season since Sam Davis took over as coach in 2020, rallied Saturday to knock off third-seeded Marysville 56-49 in overtime.

Watterson (19-6) was No. 8 in the district.

“These girls have stuck with it,” Davis said. “Motion is a really hard offense to teach and it takes kids to buy into it. This team is running it well and defending it well.”

2. Pickerington Central, Olentangy Liberty embrace clash

Almost immediately after a 60-53 win over Canal Winchester on Saturday, Liberty coach Tom Waterwash admitted the sting of an upset loss to Westerville South in last year’s district final has paid dividends.

“We learned from that,” he said. “It’s easy to say that, but we really did. We addressed some of the challenges we faced. And it’s really fun to have a veteran group of kids. You look at that bench and that is a junior- and senior-heavy group (10 of the 14 players). So there’s that experience, and we played the best schedule we’ve ever played for this reason right here.”

Fourth-seeded Liberty (21-5) got 15 points from Claire Mikola, 14 from Emma Karagheuzoff and 13 from Ohio University signee Gigi Bower.

Wallace’s eyes were peeled on the Patriots, whom he expects to present a formidable challenge. Central (23-3) has only two seniors in Jaden Tucker and Illinois signee Berry Wallace.

“We have some kids where this is their first time on the stage,” Chris Wallace said. “(Liberty) will shoot, shoot and shoot. When they get hot, they can beat anybody. They’ll have to figure out a way to guard us and we’ll have to figure out a way to guard them.”

3. Bloom-Carroll, Granville win Division II titles

Top-seeded Granville (25-1) cruised through the first three rounds of the district tournament but needed a late surge Saturday to fend off No. 6 North Union 55-49 at Central Crossing.

Harper Annarino scored 26 points and Taylor Warehime added 13, including the go-ahead layup late.

The Blue Aces, who won their fourth consecutive district title, will meet seventh-ranked Bryan (24-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Mansfield Senior. Bellevue and Copley are in the other semifinal.

Miami University signee Emily Bratton’s 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and two taken charges spurred No. 4 Bloom-Carroll (20-5) past second-seeded Buckeye Valley 49-36 in the other district final. The Bulldogs’ reward for their first regional berth since 2019 is a clash with defending state champion Cincinnati Purcell Marian (24-1) and reigning Ms. Basketball Dee Alexander at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Springfield.

Dayton Carroll and Hamilton Badin play the other semifinal.

“We finally pulled through,” Bloom-Carroll coach A.J. Ireland said. “I knew eventually we would break through, and this is the group that did it.”

4. Harvest Prep crashes Division III field

The Warriors (17-9) reached their second consecutive regional by pulling off an upset, getting 22 points from Maliyah Lofton and 13 from Carmyn Woods to knock off top-seeded Mechanicsburg 63-59 on Thursday at Capital.

Harvest Prep was the eighth seed in the district. Last year as the sixth seed, the Warriors knocked off No. 1 Worthington Christian.

Also like last year, Harvest Prep returns to the Elida regional. It will face fifth-ranked Castalia Margaretta (24-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday, and the winner will get No. 3 Ottawa-Glandorf or eighth-ranked Liberty Center in Saturday’s regional final.

Defending state champion and No. 2 seed Africentric (24-2) again chose the Springfield regional. The sixth-ranked Nubians will play No. 9 Cincinnati Country Day (21-4) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Second-ranked Kettering Alter and Versailles are in the other semifinal.

Africentric scored at least 80 points in its first three postseason games and has won four contests by an average of 51.8 points.

“We like to go where our fans can travel with us,” coach Janicia Anderson said. “I’m confident in my kids. We’re willing to go anywhere.”

5. Newark Catholic faces rematch at regional

Having held ground as the top seed in Division IV and surging back to beat No. 2 Fisher Catholic 54-48 in a district final Friday at Ohio Dominican, the Green Wave (24-0) will face a familiar if not anticipated foe in a regional semifinal Thursday at Pickerington North.

Newark Catholic, ranked third in the final state poll, will play seventh-ranked Waterford (21-3) in a rematch of the Green Wave’s 62-61 overtime win Jan. 29.

The winner gets No. 2 Berlin Hiland or Portsmouth Notre Dame in the regional final Saturday.

Newark Catholic outscored Fisher 21-5 in the fourth quarter Friday and forced a total of 15 turnovers.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio girls high school basketball regional storylines