Waverly girls basketball face Rochester in regional semifinal; championship set Feb. 19

Waverly High School entered the IHSA Rochester Regional as the 5 seed and was scheduled to play 4-seed Rochester in a regional semifinal at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, according to the Rochester Regional bracket posted by EffinghamRadio. The same EffinghamRadio bracket lists the Rochester Regional championship at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, placing a regional title game on the calendar for tonight.

EffinghamRadio’s Rochester Regional schedule shows the bracket beginning with Game 1 on Saturday, Feb. 14: 9-seed North Mac at 8-seed Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin at 12:00 p.m. The bracket then pairs 1-seed Pleasant Plains against the Winner of Game 1 at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 16, followed by the 4-seed Rochester vs. 5-seed Waverly contest at 7:30 p.m., and the championship at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 19.

Public schedule listings show conflicting opponent information for the Feb. 19, 6:00 p.m. slot at Rochester. MaxPreps lists a neutral playoff game on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:00 p.m. at Rochester High School as Pleasant Plains (IL) vs. New Berlin. A truncated excerpt of a high-school schedule entry on SI.com states that “A Waverly High School girls basketball game against Pleasant Plains was scheduled for Feb. 19, 2026,” but the provided SI.com text is incomplete and does not include full time or venue details. EffinghamRadio’s bracket would also produce a Pleasant Plains vs. Waverly final on Feb. 19 if Pleasant Plains and Waverly both advanced from their Feb. 16 matchups.

The discrepancy leaves the Feb. 19 opponent list unresolved in publicly available schedules: EffinghamRadio provides the bracket structure and seeds (Pleasant Plains 1, Rochester 4, Waverly 5) and a 6:00 p.m. championship time; MaxPreps provides a specific Feb. 19 pairing of Pleasant Plains vs. New Berlin at Rochester High School; SI.com’s excerpt names Waverly vs. Pleasant Plains for Feb. 19 but is truncated in the supplied text. Because the sources do not align on the Feb. 19 opponent, the bracket path and neutral-site listings should be treated as provisional until confirmed.

For Morgan County coverage context, EffinghamRadio also lists the Pleasant Plains Super-Sectional on Monday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m., and the IHSA State Final Tournament at Bloomington CEFCU Arena with Mar. 5 games at 2:30 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and an 8:15 p.m. third-place game, and the championship on Saturday, Mar. 7 at 12:00 p.m.

To confirm which teams will play at tonight’s 6:00 p.m. Rochester Regional championship, contact the Pleasant Plains and Waverly athletic departments or Rochester High School’s athletic office for official bracket confirmations and site assignments; public schedule listings from EffinghamRadio and MaxPreps currently show differing opponents for the Feb. 19 6:00 p.m. slot.