Defending champ St. Bede will be prime for another regional championship when the Princeton 2A regional opens up Monday night at Prouty Gym.
The top-seeded Lady Bruins (24-5) stand 7-0 against the regional field as a heavy favorite, including five victories over its semifinal opponent, either Princeton (3-0) or Mendota (2-0). They beat 2 seed Kewanee in the Lady Bruin Classic as well as Hall along the way.

“There are a lot of familiar names in the tournament for us, teams we have played,” SBA coach Tom McGunnigal said. “At this time you want to be playing your best basketball and I feel this team has really come together throughout the season. Hopefully that will lead to some good things for our team in the postseason.”

Kewanee coach Chuck Blake is a veteran of postseasons with stops at Neponset and Wethersfield along the way. While he gives a big nod to St. Bede, he knows strange things can happen.