By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
The Brentwood-Ravenwood girls basketball teams compete in a postseason Battle of the Woods Saturday, while the BHS and RHS boys squads play for a chance to meet in Tuesday's District 11-AAA championship game.

The Lady Raptors and Lady Bruins open district semifinal action at 4 p.m.  Saturday at Centennial after splitting in the regular season. The Ravenwood boys follow at 5:30 p.m. against Centennial, and top seed Brentwood will face either or Hillsboro or Independence  at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Making the semifinals also qualifies all four teams for the Region 6-AAA tournament, which has been moved to BHS for Feb. 25-March 3."We look at the district tournament as a chance to set your seed for the region tournament, and of course, a pride factor comes into play," Lady Bruins Coach Ronnie Siegenthaler said.

Saturday's winners not only advance to the district finals, but they also get two tops seeds in the Region 6-AAA tourney against lower-seeded  District 12-AAA teams.

"To go back-to-back years is a step in the right direction for our program," said RHS boys coach Patrick Whitlock, whose team will make only its fourth regional appearance. "Getting a good seed is important  but we must understand that every team we face from here on out is very good."

Bruins sophomore 6-6 forward Cody Shelton, who averaged 20-plus points in the season sweep of the Raptors, hopes his baseball season gets delayed a little while.

"They're starting up right now, but I can't really do anything with them so I'm just focusing on basketball. Hopefully we get far," Shelton said.

Kyla Kerstetter, BHS

Lydia Wright, RHS

4 p.m. Saturday: Brentwood vs. Ravenwood, girls semifinal

Brentwood's girls (20-4, 8-2) are coming off a 50-35 victory on Ravenwood's homecourt in the regular-season finale after losing to the Lady Raptors (21-7, 7-3) at home 35-32 Jan. 21.

"It’s always good to be a higher seed but we are just concentrating on Saturday's game," RHS Coach Ron Brock  said.

The Raptors defense shut down BHS leading scorer Kyla Kerstetter, a William & Mary signee, in both games. But last time her teammates stepped up on offense, with sophomore Paige Parker leading the way.

"This game will be about playing hard and being able to execute on both ends," Seigenthaler said.

Brock said the Raptors couldn't get to Brentwood's outside shooters in time -- plus they hit their shots.  Brentwood scored 18 of its first 23 points behind the arc last week, but only averaged 28% on all field goals and 3-pointers in the earlier game.

"They did their job -- they hit 3s and that's what they've got to do," Brock said. "If you're going to beat us and you're on one night and hit your 3s, you can get us. But you better be hitting them. "

Ravenwood is led by forward Erin Lauderdale, point guard Lydia Wright, Logan Hodskins and Jayne Rice.

"They are athletic and long inside and quick outside," Seigenthaler said. "They give teams problems inside.

"I hope we are playing well at this time of our season."

Robert Veal, RHS

5:30 p.m. Saturday: Ravenwood in boys semifinal

Whitlock is pleased with how his team has been attacking zone defenses lately, which was a problem in the first meeting with BHS.

"We are not playing together as well as I would like but we are  going to make strides in that," the Raptors coach said. "Our team defense has not been good and we have really emphasized that this week in practice."

Against Centennial, the Raptors (19-9, 6-4), RHS must keep the Cougars out of the paint and not give up easy baskets, Whitlock said. "Their size is very scary and they are a very capable team," he added.

"Every team 1 through 6 in this district is capable of winning any game," Whitlock said.

RHS has four guys around 6-foot-6 including Robert Veal, Sam Wilcox and J.P. Liederbach. Evan Forhetz is a floor leader who can penetrate or shoot from outside, and football star Riley Stoner is tough on the frontcourt, too.

"We are looking forward to the challenges of the postseason and are hoping to start playing our best basketball starting this weekend," Whitlock said.

8:30 p.m. Saturday: Brentwood in boys semifinal

Point guard Jack Montague and Shelton have led BHS (21-7, 8-2) offensively lately, but James Cox and Skyler Sims have provided firepower, too.

Will Joiner, BHS

"We are getting great balance in our scoring distribution," Bruins Coach Dennis King said.

Against Hillsboro, led by 6-8 Isaiah Harrison, Brentwood must limit penetration and second shots, he said.

Montague, the junior playmaker, makes the Bruins go. "We've got a great little point guard," King said. "We put the ball in his hands."

The Bruins were also boosted by the return of Marquette golf signee Will Joiner, a 6-5 forward who gives BHS more rebounding and defensive help inside. Joiner was sidelined by a stress fracture suffered at a holiday tournament.

"He has made such a difference. We were having a nice season even without him since Christmas, but he brings a senior strength, size and presence," King said. "I just didn't know if he was going to be able to recover that quickly."