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When the four-day DODDS-Europe basketball tournament begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday, 30 girls team will be shooting for titles in three divisions. But just one team has a shot at perfection.

Patch (12-0), the top seed in the Division I event contested by Europe’s largest schools, is the only squad with a chance to run the table. The others have suffered at least one loss.

That was a campaign, however, conducted along regional lines, a schedule based on a school’s location, not its size. This event matches teams with opponents of a similar size from across the continent, and this year the competition is even more intense since the number of available titles has shrunk from four to three.

Here’s a division-by-division rundown of what to expect in the tournament:

Division I: Two teams and five players hold the key to this one, according to Corey Sullivan, coach of third-seeded Kaiserslautern.

"Patch and Wiesbaden," he said flatly in a Monday e-mail when asked to name the D-I favorites. "The three guards from Patch (All-Europe sophomore Janelle Loney, junior Bianca Lopez and senior Shy’Kimeyun Alexander) and the Thomas sisters (LeAndrea and LeAmber) from Wiesbaden have been putting up big numbers all year, and I expect that to continue."

Patch, the D-I runner-up in 2009, solidified its credentials as the favorite by trampling visiting Bamberg, the top seed in Division II, 77-40 and 55-40 last weekend. The outcomes reflect the scoring prowess of the Lady Panthers, who averaged nearly 60 points per game in the 2010 portion of the schedule.

Wiesbaden (12-2), would have matched Patch’s perfection had it not been for back-to-back one-point losses last month at fifth-seeded SHAPE. But in a continentwide event, the regular season’s not an infallible guide. Last year, Heidelberg, the No. 5 seed, won it all behind a couple of graduated All-Europeans.

This year, Kaiserslautern (9-4) has those sorts of players in Erica Turner, Cariema Wood and Karah Helm, and SHAPE (9-4) in Liene Bauska and Tammy Northshield.

Division II: Bamberg (11-3) suits up arguably the continent’s best female post player, 30-point scorer Racquel Davis, and can attack from the outside, too, behind Jenna Cepe and Kara Pitts. It is seeded No. 1 in spite of last weekend’s hiccup at Patch.

Second-seeded Aviano (11-1), however, is the defending champ and well-poised for the challenge. It matches up against Davis as well as anyone, countering with Jasmine Mailoto.

And Aviano coach Michael Williams cautioned not to overlook the American Overseas School of Rome, the No. 3 seed that ended his squad’s unbeaten run 44-40 on Feb. 12.

"AOSR … is the sleeper of Division II because you never know which team will hit the floor," he wrote in a Monday e-mail. "If their star player (Martina Mannozzi) has a good tournament, and I think she will, AOSR could play on Saturday."

Division III: Brussels (11-2), which didn’t lose to a D-III team all season and dominated defending small-schools champ Rota twice in a midseason showdown, appeared to be the obvious choice for No. 1, but Lady Brigands’ coach Dexter Bohn disagrees.

"It seems to me Menwith Hill (the No. 2 seed led by Monique McCreary, Kaia Pierce and Katie Claycomb) is the Division III favorite," he wrote Monday in an e-mail. "They were missing two starters when we beat them up there (43-22 on Feb. 13), and when they are at full strength they have it all — a strong inside game, good ball-handlers and outside shooters, great defense and excellent coaching (Kate Ojeda)."

Bohn also sees experience working against his team, runners-up to Rota in 2009.

"We had a good regular season, but with only one senior (inside star Kathleen Anderson) and the rest (Bria Yazzie and Sindi Shahu) freshmen and sophomores, our fate will be determined by how our young players handle tournament pressure."

And how well they can deal with the unknown.

Lajes from the Azores, Incirlik and Ankara from Turkey and Sigonella from Italy are all teams that neither of the top seeds, nor third-seeded Rota, has faced before.

60th DODDS-Europe championshipsWhen: Tip-offs every 75 minutes from 8 a.m.- 7:15 p.m. Wednesday; 8:30 a.m.-5:45 p.m. Thursday; 8 a.m-8:30 p.m. Friday; tip-offs every 90 minutes 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Benjamin Franklin Village Sports Arena, Sullivan and Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, and Patton Barracks, Heidelberg, on Wednesday; BFV Sports Arena, Sullivan and Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Patton Barracks and Heidelberg High School, Heidelberg, and Tompkins Barracks, Schwetzingen, on Thursday; BFV Sports Arena, Sullivan, Coleman and Patton Barracks on Friday; BFV Sports Arena and Sullivan Barracks on Saturday

What’s at stake: European boys and girls championships in Divisions I, II and III

Admission: $5 for adults and $3 for students; under age 5 free. Please note that by order of the Mannheim fire marshal, anyone leaving a venue and opting to re-enter that same day must buy a new ticket.

2009 championsDivision IBoys Ramstein GirlsHeidelberg

Division IIBoys AvianoGirlsAviano

Division IIIBoys BaumholderGirls Baumholder

Division IVBoys SigonellaGirlsRota

The seedings(Season records in parentheses)

Division IBoys1. Ramstein (13-1)2. Heidelberg (11-3)3. Patch (10-2)4. Int. Sch. Brussels (8-0)5. Kaiserslautern (9-3)6. Wiesbaden (7-7)7. Lakenheath (6-7)8. Vilseck (2-10)9. SHAPE (1-12)Girls 1. Patch (12-0)|2. Wiesbaden (12-2)3. Kaiserslautern (9-4)4. Ramstein (8-7)5. SHAPE (9-4)6. Int. Sch. Brussels (4-4)7. Heidelberg (7-7)8. Lakenheath (7-5)9. Vilseck (3-10)

Division IIBoys 1. Aviano (13-1)2. Hohenfels (8-4)3. Bamberg (8-6)4. AOSR (8-6)5. Ansbach (5-9)6. Mannheim (2-10)7. Bitburg (8-4)8. BFA (3-9)9. AFNORTH (6-7)10. Naples (8-6)11. Vicenza (9-5)12. Baumholder (2-10)13. Bahrain (0-0)14. Marymount (3-10)15. Milan (1-13)Girls 1. Bamberg (11-3)2. Aviano (11-1)3. AOSR (9-3)4. Mannheim (5-7)5. Bitburg (4-9)6. Ansbach (8-6)7. BFA (5-7)8. Naples (8-4)9. Milan (6-6)10. AFNORTH (6-7)11. Bahrain (0-0)12. Vicenza (3-9)13. Hohenfels (0-12)14. Baumholder (0-12)15. None

Division IIIBoys 1. Rota (6-0)2. Sigonella (11-3)3. Menwith Hill (4-8)4. Brussels (5-8)5. Incirlik (2-0)6. Ankara (0-2)7. Alconbury (2-9)8. Lajes (0-0)Girls 1. Brussels (11-2)2. Menwith Hill (8-4)3. Rota (1-5)4. Sigonella (5-7)5. Incirlik (1-1)6. Ankara (1-1)7. Alconbury (0-12)8. NoneNote: For the first time in the history of the tournament, the American Forces Network will show all six title games on the AFN Pentagon channel and afneurope.net.

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