It wasn’t reported to the local newspaper, but Carondelet of Concord’s 71-69 upset win over previous No. 3 St. Mary’s of Stockton causes some shockwaves in this week’s rankings, especially with the Cougars moving up to No. 6. St. Mary’s now becomes the center of the state’s girls hoops scene this weekend as numerous top teams, including No. 1 Clovis West and No. 2 Archbishop Mitty, will be coming to Stockton for the MLK Classic.
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1. (1) Clovis West (Fresno) 14-1
The Golden Eagles, who also are No. 1 in the nation, beat Sacred Heart Cathedral of S.F. last week 64-44 even though they didn’t even play that well. They’ll be in Stockton on Monday to play Nevada top-ranked Centennial of Las Vegas.
2. (2) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 10-2
Both Monarch losses are to teams that are No. 1 in Colorado and D.C./Maryland, respectively, while they also still have an overtime win over Clovis West.
Players from Carondelet got into the Christmas spirit at a tournament last month. Photo: Twitter.com.
3. (4) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 8-3
The Jackrabbits get back the spot they lost to St. Mary’s despite not taking the court in 2017, although a Monday night blowout of Long Beach Wilson is included in their record.
4. (5) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 12-1
The Trailblazers move up a notch and still remain right in the mix with a lone 83-81 loss in Oregon at the Nike Interstate Shootout to Oregon top five South Salem of Salem.
5. (6) Harvard –Westlake (Studio City) 14-1
The Wolverines move up after winning a tight 49-47 game vs. La Jolla Country Day. They also have a win vs. Arizona Valley Vista, which beat Carondelet by 13 points at the Nike TOC.
6. (NR) Carondelet (Concord) 9-3
Head coach Elgin Leslie’s girls move past Cardinal Newman as the top team in the North Coast Section, and maybe St. Mary’s could conceivably win four times if they played five times, but that is speculative and speculation is not fact and the fact is that the Cougars went into Stockton and beat the Rams 71-69 in their house.
7. (3) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 11-3
The Rams had a chance at the buzzer but the 3-point shot by Neenah Young clanked off iron and head coach Tom Gonsalves and his girls suffered an upset defeat as a nationally-ranked team for the second time in two years.
8. (7) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 10-2
The Cardinals lose one of the two spots they gained last week to make room for Carondelet. However, if you had told the Newman faithful they would be a top 10 team nearing mid season after sitting at No. 17 in the preseason they’d take it.
