Tonight begins a girls basketball "Power Summit" at Canton's Memorial Civic Center.
The three leagues represented (Federal League, Northeast Ohio Conference and Suburban League) are among the mighty, and the numbers back it up.
Tonight's first Division I regional game tips at 6:15 and is a rematch from the second game of the season. Green (21-3), co-champion of the Suburban League, has won 20 straight games, including a 19-point drubbing of Hudson, an upper-tier NOC team, for the Akron District title. McKinley (21-3), champion of the Federal League, has one of the region's premier sophomores in guard Ameryst Alston.
Ninth-ranked McKinley won its four sectional and district games by an average margin of 47.5 points.
In that early meeting, McKinley got past Green, 54-50, in overtime at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse. Alston had 24 points as McKinley rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit.
Junior point guard Logan Pastor, Green's top player and a Division I college prospect, had 15 points and nine rebounds. Pastor is renowned for her passing ability.
Tonight's second meeting tips at 8 and is the unofficial NOC championship game, matching fourth-ranked Twinsburg (22-1), champion of the Valley Division, against Brush (20-4), champion of the River Division.
The Tigers feature 6-foot-4 sophomore Malina Howard and a talented supporting cast. Under first-year coach Julie Solis, Twinsburg's resume includes wins over Walsh Jesuit and Regina, with their only loss to Hathaway Brown in late November.
Brush, maybe somewhat overshadowed, rolled through the Perry District topping district opponents Chardon and Mentor each by nine points.
Twinsburg and Brush scrimmaged in mid-November, but did not meet during the regular season.
How good is the girls basketball played in the Northeast Ohio Conference?
Not just good, very good.
Certainly with 18 high schools you are bound to have a couple of outstanding teams (Twinsburg and Brush), but consider an overall playoff mark of 21-16 for NOC schools through sectional and district play. Thirteen of the 18 schools won at least one playoff game.
Two first round sectional games had NOC schools playing each other. Stow eliminated Medina and Normandy knocked out North Royalton so however you want to factor those two games into your thinking.
Three schools (Solon, Strongsville and Twinsburg) received first round byes.
The Suburban League has fashioned a 12-7 mark in sectional and district play. In addition to Green (4-0), Cloverleaf made a memorable run to the Medina Division I District title game, falling to Lorain Southview. The Colts eliminated two NOC schools (Brunswick and Elyria) along the way.