Here’s a quick look at the top 10 teams that will be highlighted in this week’s new Cal-Hi Sports State Top 20 rankings for boys and girls basketball.
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(After games of Saturday, Feb. 6)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)
(Ronnie Flores is our lead analyst for the boys; Harold Abend for the girls)
TOP 10 STATE BOYS
BASKETBALL TEAMS
1. (1) Chino Hills 25-0
Second league matchup with No. 10 Damien coming up on Tuesday night in aftermath of impressive 98-81 win at Nike Extravaganza vs. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas).
Bryce Peters has had a 44-point game this season for No. 10 Damien. Photo: Ronnie Flores.
2. (2) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 23-1
League wins over St. Bernard (Playa del Rey) and Cathedral (Los Angeles) showed there was no hangover after team suffered first loss to Chino Hills the previous week.
3. (3) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 21-3
Gold Coast League playoffs (semifinals & finals) are this week for the Trailblazers, who are on track to be No. 3 seed in CIFSS Open Division behind Chino Hills and Bishop Montgomery.
4. (5) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 22-3
Easy to move the Monarchs up after their win over previous No. 5 Foothills Christian last Saturday at Nike X. Since their only losses are to out-of-state foes, higher seed in CIFSS Open Division than Sierra Canyon is possible.
5. (4) Foothills Christian (El Cajon) 17-4
Loss to Mater Dei only drops the Knights to fifth. Having two-point loss to Chino Hills makes any thoughts of being behind Modesto Christian go away fast.
6. (6) Modesto Christian 23-1
The Crusaders warmed up for playoffs with 89-60 win over Capital Christian. Will those in NorCal who weren’t ranking MC No. 1 behind De La Salle now switch to same order as ours?
7. (9) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 20-4
This is a good week to move up Redondo back in front of Folsom due to having that head-to-head win over Bulldogs. Redondo also has split with Bishop Gorman and one loss to Chino Hills.
8. (8) Folsom 22-2
Bulldogs’ best win continues to be the first one vs. Modesto Christian, but it was by just two points and MC hasn’t lost since while Folsom has a more blowout loss to Redondo.
9. (10) Westchester (Los Angeles) 22-5
Second league matchup of the season with Fairfax coming up this week after team collected four wins last week.
10. (11) Damien (La Verne) 23-2
Wins over Upland and Etiwanda were last week and game with Chino Hills coming up this week.
TOP 10 STATE GIRLS
BASKETBALL TEAMS
1. (1) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 21-0
A 41-point blowout of Rio Linda was followed by the season’s third largest offensive output in a 95-74 victory over No. 9 Bishop O’Dowd.
San Jose Mitty’s Haley Jones is one the state’s best freshmen. Photo: Harold Abend.
2. (2) Miramonte (Orinda) 22-0
The Mats stay one up in the win column over St. Mary’s after wins over Moraga Campolindo and Martinez Alhambra.
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 16-3
All three of the teams the Monarchs lost to in Arizona are still unbeaten and now are all basically in top 10 of nation.
4. (4) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 21-3
The Jackrabbits followed up their win over Alemany from week before with three Moore League blowouts.
5. (5) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-3
The 70-45 loss to national No. 6 Centennial (Las Vegas) ends up not hurting MD at all in our rankings. Similar to Miramonte, Centennial is just that good.
6. (6) Brea Olinda (Brea) 21-2
We don’t agree with power rankings that show Brea ahead of Mater Dei. The Ladycats haven’t played a comparable schedule.
7. (8) Mission Hills (San Marcos) 21-3
The girls from North San Diego County get to move up and take the spot of the Chaminade team that just lost to an Alemany team the Grizzlies beat 55-44 at the La Jolla Country Day Sweet 16 tournament.
8. (9) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 19-4
The Torreys continue to hold fast behind Mission Hills and get a one-spot bump as well.
9. (10) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 18-5
The Dragons scored 74 points but against the nation’s top team it was still 21 points short in a Saturday loss to St. Mary’s.
10. (11) Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 16-3
The Panthers are in a coasting part of the season but wins over Alemany and Bishop O’Dowd softens the recent upset loss to Brookside Christian.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
