New State Girls BB Divisional Rankings

Freshman Kat Tudor hit for 19 points to lead St. Mary’s of Stockton when the Rams defeated Miramonte of Orinda 63-62 in the opening round of the CIF Northern California open division playoffs.

By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Harold Abend, Paul Muyskens

For game reports, please go to our twitter page @CalHiSports and for other updates please visit our Facebook page. To subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter, click here.

This is the one week we strive to get all of these rankings done as fast as possible because so many big games are coming on Tuesday night in the regional playoffs.

Some of you, in fact, may be seeing these for the first time after those games have been played. Keep that in mind when looking over these rankings. Any Tuesday results won’t be reflected until next week’s rankings.

(After results of Saturday, March 9; previous ranking in parentheses)

DIVISION I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 29-1*
2. (2) Santiago (Corona) 29-2*
3. (4) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 29-2*
4. (6) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 27-5
5. (3) Etiwanda 28-4
6. (5) Troy (Fullerton) 25-5*
7. (8) Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) 22-9
8. (NR) Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 27-6
9. (7) Millikan (Long Beach) 27-5
10. (13) Heritage (Brentwood) 26-5
11. (9) Clovis West (Fresno) 23-6
12. (12) Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 25-3
13. (NR) Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 27-4
14. (NR) Bishop Amat (La Puente) 25-9
15. (NR) Berkeley 20-11
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D1 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Narbonne (Harbor City), No. 11 Monte Vista (Danville), No. 14 Centennial (Corona), No. 15 Kennedy (Sacramento).
Teams on the Bubble: A.B. Miller (Fontana) 23-5, Centennial (Corona) 23-6, Deer Valley (Antioch) 17-10, Granite Hills (El Cajon) 26-7, Great Oak (Temecula) 18-7, Gunn (Palo Alto) 21-6, Hanford 23-5, Kennedy (Sacramento) 24-7, Monte Vista (Danville) 24-7, Narbonne (Harbor City) 24-9, Stockdale (Bakersfield) 24-6, Wilcox (Santa Clara) 23-5.
Notes & Highlights: Long Beach Poly’s win over Etiwanda combined with Fullerton Troy’s 20-point loss to La Jolla Country Day means that the eventual CIF Division I champion may get up to No. 3 in this division’s final rankings. Vista Murrieta’s huge rise was due not just because of its own big win over previous No. 7 Long Beach Millikan. The Broncos also benefit since their CIF Southern Section Division IA playoff loss was to No. 7 Canyon Springs, which also is still going in the D1 South bracket. The biggest upset of last week, though, was Gunn of Palo Alto beating CIF North Coast Section D1 champion and NorCal D1 top-seed Monte Vista of Danville. Although the Titans were the CIF Central Coast Section D1 champions, this was the first year the CCS had its own open division. Gunn didn’t qualify for that division due mostly to league losses to Wilcox of Santa Clara, which was eliminated last Saturday by Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills.

DIVISION II
1. (1) Carondelet (Concord) 26-3*
2. (3) Ridgeview (Bakersfield) 28-3
3. (4) Lynwood 26-5
4. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 24-7*
5. (6) J.W. North (Riverside) 24-6
6. (5) Sacramento 27-5*
7. (8) St. Francis (Mountain View) 22-8
8. (9) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 31-2
9. (7) Mark Keppel (Alhambra) 27-6
10. (NR) Lynbrook (San Jose) 23-5
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D2 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Woodbridge (Irvine).
Teams on the Bubble: Bonita (La Verne) 25-7, Cajon (San Bernardino) 27-1, Canyon (Canyon Country) 24-5, Clayton Valley (Concord) 22-8, Florin (Sacramento) 23-9, Garces (Bakersfield) 27-4, Granada Hills 22-9, Montgomery (Santa Rosa) 25-8, Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 27-6, Presentation (San Jose) 14-15, Serra (San Diego) 25-8, Woodbridge (Irvine) 26-4.
Notes & Highlights: Since Archbishop Mitty suffered a 20-point loss to Carondelet in the NorCal Open Division quarterfinals, the Monarchs were dropped behind Ridgeview and Lynwood in this week’s divisional rankings. Those two teams may play Saturday in the D2 South regional final. Lynbrook is still going in the D2 North regional, has a win over Gunn of Palo Alto and therefore went in as a newcomer this week in place of No. 10 Woodbridge. The Warriors could come back in for the final top 10 rankings depending on how Lynbrook does and also how J.W. North does. The Huskies are the ones who eliminated Woodbridge in the CIFSS DII-AA playoffs.

DIVISION III
1. (1) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 27-3*
2. (2) Miramonte (Orinda) 27-3*
3. (3) Chaminade (West Hills) 29-3
4. (4) Alemany (Mission Hills) 29-5
5. (5) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 24-6
6. (6) Campolindo (Moraga) 25-5
7. (7) Enterprise (Redding) 29-1
8. (9) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 20-10
9. (8) Christian Brothers (Sacramento) 25-8
10. (NR) Agoura (Agoura Hills) 23-11
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D3 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10. Burlingame.
Teams on the Bubble: Burlingame 28-3, Calabasas 21-10, El Dorado (Placentia) 26-6, Jurupa Valley 27-2, Lakeside (Lake Elsinore) 24-5, Modesto Chriatian 22-10, Placer (Auburn) 25-7, Reseda 23-5, Santa Barbara 23-9, Selma 31-2, Vanden (Travis AFB) 28-5.
Notes & Highlights: This division had the least changes of any girls division in the state this week. There is still a chance the D3 North regional final and the D3 South regional final will be matchups of teams from the same league (Sacred Heart Cathedral vs. St. Ignatius in the north and Chaminade vs. Alemany in the south). If that happens, there’s more proof that anyone thinking that the CIF went to these open divisions for public schools to have a better chance at winning state titles is incorrect. To us, the main reason it has happened is for there to be more intriguing, showdown games between the top teams in the open division. Whether that part of it is a success or not is open for interpretation.

DIVISION IV
1. (1) Windward (Los Angeles) 30-0*
2. (2) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 29-4*
3. (3) Salesian (Richmond) 27-7
4. (4) Serra (Gardena) 26-6
5. (7) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 18-11*
6. (5) JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 24-7
7. (6) St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) 26-7
8. (8) Bradshaw Christian (Sacramento) 28-2
9. (9) Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 21-7
10. (10) Bishop’s (La Jolla) 20-13
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D4 state title).
Dropped Out: None.
Teams on the Bubble: Argonaut (Sutter Creek) 30-2, Bear River (Lake of the Pines) 26-5, Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 22-9, Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 20-7, Menlo School (Atherton) 22-9, Piedmont 23-9, Ripon 23-5, St. Anthony (Long Beach) 17-11, St. Monica (Santa Monica) 28-6, St. Paul (Santa Fe Springs) 20-13.
Notes & Highlights: It’s easy to think of La Jolla Country Day as the defending champion of this division since the Torreys won the D4 title last season. They aren’t defending it, though, due to the open division so we’re referring to them instead as the 2012 D4 state champion. If they were defending it, ironically, the team that would be favored to get if from them is the team they are playing next in the open division – No. 1 Windward. The only team from last week’s rankings to lose was Bishop’s of La Jolla (from the same league as La Jolla Country Day), but the loss was to No. 7 St. Bernard and the team’s strength of schedule is still much better than either of the NorCal D4 semifinalists (Menlo, Piedmont) that aren’t yet in the rankings.

DIVISION V
1. (2) Horizon (San Diego) 24-7
2. (3) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 23-9
3. (1) Brookside Christian (Stockton) 26-5*
4. (4) Eastside College Prep (E. Palo Alto) 22-8
5. (5) Valley Christian (Dublin) 31-2
6. (6) Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 22-7
7. (7) Mesa Grande Academy (Calimesa) 29-3
8. (9) International (San Francisco) 30-4
9. (NR) Immanuel (Reedley) 22-7
10. (NR) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 21-11
*Indicates CIF Open Division team (not competing for D2 state title).
Dropped Out: Previous No. 8 View Park (Los Angeles), No. 10 Durham.
Teams on the Bubble: Central Catholic (Modesto) 17-8, Desert (Edwards) 21-2, Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 19-10, Pacific Collegiate (Santa Cruz) 25-6, Providence (Burbank) 20-11, San Domenico (San Rafael) 25-8, St. Francis CCC (Watsonville) 16-13, Turlock Christian 25-6, Urban (San Francisco) 23-8, View Park (Los Angeles) 21-10, Village Christian (Sun Valley) 18-15.
Notes & Highlights: As stated last week, Brookside Christian was going to drop behind both Horizon and Sierra Canyon after its expected loss to Bishop O’Dowd in the NorCal open division. But want more proof why the Knights will likely never drop behind Eastside College Prep? Eastside’s win last week over Capital Christian of Sacramento was 58-47. Brookside beat that same team 72-28. The other big news in this division was Immanuel of Reedley knocking off both Flintridge Prep of La Canada and previous No. 8 View Park. Teams from the CIF Central Section normally struggle in Southern California brackets, but not as much in D5 girls.

Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.