Tournament time is just around the corner and area basketball fans better charge up the GPS and be prepared to buy a program because there will be a number of familiar faces traveling to unfamiliar places when sectional play gets under way.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association and the Northeast District Board did Lorain County’s seven Division I teams — Elyria, Lorain, Avon, Avon Lake, Midview, North Ridgeville and Amherst — a favor by moving their district site from Medina High School to Elyria Catholic’s Lou Rotunda Coliseum. Magnificat, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, John Marshall and probable No. 1 seed Westlake will round out that 12-team field.

Keystone will defend its Division II district title at the new Elyria High gymnasium. Last year the Wildcats, along with other area Division II teams Brookside, Clearview, Firelands and Vermilion, played at the old Elyria West gym. Cleveland Central Catholic and Senate Athletic League member Cleveland Martin Luther King are additions to this site after migrating from the St. Joseph Academy sectional last season.

Elyria Catholic, the other Lorain County squad defending a district title, better be prepared to spend a lot of time on the bus if it’s going to make another long postseason run. The Division III district tournament has been moved from its previous home in Wellington to Barberton High School in western Summit County.

“The bad news is that it’s a long drive for most of our fans and the people who have supported us,” EC coach Eric Rothgery said. “The good news is it’s a district we think we can win. It’s tough to get out and see some of those teams but I think Berkshire will be the No. 1 seed and I will make sure I’ve seen them a couple of times before the tournament begins.”

The Panthers will be joined in the Magic City by Black River, Columbia, Oberlin and Wellington.

Lorain County’s only Division IV team, Open Door, will be back at Norwayne High School in a district tournament that will resemble a holy war. Nine of the 12 teams in the tournament come from schools with religious affiliations.

Besides Open Door, there’s Kidron Central Christian, Canton Heritage Christian, (Hartville) Lake Center Christian, Lutheran East, Fuchs Mizrachi, Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s, St. Peter Chanel and Our Lady of the Elms.

Lake Ridge Academy is serving the second year of a two-year penalty for OHSAA rule violations and will not take part in the postseason.

Comets’ Shagovac out

Amherst started the season as one of the more inexperienced teams in the Southwestern Conference and now will be without guard Brianna Shagovac, one of its top players, for the remainder of the season.

The junior point guard suffered a torn ACL and MCL on Jan. 14 in a game against North Olmsted. Shagovac will undergo surgery Monday.

“It’s really unfortunate because she is such a good athlete,” Amherst coach John Rositano said. “But she is a tough son-of-a-gun and no one will work harder than her to rehab. We fully expect her back for next season.”

Shagovac was also the leading scorer on the Comets’ soccer team last fall and there is hope she can return in time for the 2012 soccer season.

In the meantime she’s still involved with the basketball team, coming to every practice and helping her coaches and teammates however she can.

Rositano is still trying to figure out how to replace her 10 points and 4.5 assists per game.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “I moved Morgan Dziak over to point guard and she’s done a good job, but she was our best shooting guard with 28 3-pointers this season so now we’re really shuffling a lot of positions around.”

The Comets don’t have any seniors on their roster, so overcoming adversity this year may pay off in 2013.

“We’ll figure it out,” Rositano said. “We’re putting the pieces together and coming together as a team. We are going to be better for it next year.”

Losing the losing ways

Black River’s Jessica Chidsey scored a game-high 18 points on Saturday as the Pirates snapped a six-game losing streak with a 51-46 home win against Oberlin.

Black River will look to make it two in a row Saturday when its travels to Brookside. The Pirates beat the Cardinals 57-37 earlier this season.

’Cats still bringing the ‘D’

Keystone, the No. 1 team in The Chronicle-Telegram Top 5, is having another outstanding defensive season.

The Wildcats led all area teams a year ago, allowing just 32 points per game. After Saturday’s 49-19 thrashing of Fairview, Keystone is allowing only 33.3 points per game this season.

Walsh Jesuit, which scored 57 points while handing the Wildcats their only loss of the season, has been the lone team to score more than 36 points against coach Scott Terry’s squad.

Player of the week

Brittney McNamara, Elyria Catholic

• YEAR: Junior
• POSITION: guard
• LAST WEEK: Hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points as the Panthers defeated VASJ 54-43. Followed that up with a 22-point performance, including two more 3-pointers, in a 60-58 loss to Vermilion.
• BIO: Concentrates on basketball year-round, also playing on the Adidas team of the Avon-based National Basketball Academy coached by her father, Kevin. When she’s not playing basketball she enjoys hanging out with her friends and her brothers. Her favorite athletes are Los Angeles Clippers center Blake Griffin and Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving. Her favorite school subject is math.
• FUTURE PLANS: Although still undecided about her college plans, she hopes someday to follow in the footsteps of her father and Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery and get into coaching.
• Parents: Kevin and Jackie

Contact Todd Shapiro at (216) 233-6761 or ohiodude441@aol.com to nominate players of the week or submit items for this notebook. Nominations are accepted Sunday and Monday.

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