St. Louis Catholic has its eye on defending its state title all season, and they will be in the driver’s seat again.

The Saints earned the No. 1 seed in Division II for the second consecutive season when the Louisiana High School Athletic Association released its girls basketball playoff brackets Monday afternoon.

“That is why we played this tough schedule,” St. Louis head coach Tony Johnson said. “We wanted to be a No. 1 seed.

“We accomplished that. When you get to play the quarterfinals at home, that is a plus. The power rankings showed that we played one of the toughest schedules in Louisiana. I think it prepared the kids for these next few games.”

The Saints (28-3) return all five starters from last year’s championship run in Myca Trail, Paris Guillory, Raven Guillory, Tia Reder and Mackenzie Williams. The Saints host No. 16 Archbishop Hannan today at 6 p.m. at the Legacy Center.

“We just have to make adjustments,” Johnson said. “We bring back five starters and have eight in the rotation.

“They can all play pretty good. We ask them to each know and accept their role. That is why we are 28-3 right now.”

Hathaway (30-4) and Fairview (35-4) are once again on a collision course for the Class B finals for the third consecutive season. Hathaway is the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive season, while two-time defending champ Fairview is No. 2. Fairview beat Hathaway 55-51 in the finals last season, but returns only a handful of starters led by senior Rylee Cloud.

Hathaway has the bulk of its lineup back, including guards Chloey Guidry and Madison Suire and forwards Brea Baca-White and Lamiyah Sanchez and beat Fairview twice in the regular season.

Both teams get a bye in the first round.

Two defending champs will start the playoffs at home in two-time Class 4A defending champion LaGrange and last year’s Class 2A champ, Lake Arthur. No. 11 LaGrange will play No. 22 Lakeshore on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., while the Tigers will take on No. 28 Madison at 6 p.m.

Nine other Southwest La. teams earned top-8 seeds in Class 5A No. 7 Barbe (21-6), a trio of Class 3A teams in No. 5 Jennings (26-7), No. 7 South Beauregard (21-9) and No. 8 Iota (18-8), No. 6 Kinder (25-6) and No. 7 Rosepine (26-7) in Class 2A, Class 1A No. 4 Merryville (24-6) No. 8 Oberlin (19-7) and No. 6 Reeves (17-13) in Class C.