The girls at San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno got very creative with their photographer during a shoot early in the season. The Panthers look like a team to beat in the CIF D2 state playoffs. Photo: @SJMGirlsHoops / Twitter.com.
When our state rankings for girls hoops began in the early 1980s, they were done every week in divisions. That’s almost impossible to do today due to competitive equity seeding, but we are continuing to compile them for the final weeks of the season. No. 1 teams after Tuesday’s games include Etiwanda (Open), Salesian of Richmond (D1), San Joaquin Memorial of Fresno (D2), Oakland Tech (D3), San Marcos of Santa Barbara (D4) plus San Domenico of San Anselmo (D5).
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. After these first rankings, next week’s update and then the final state rankings are available only to our Gold Club members as well as our state stat star of the week honor rolls. To check out getting a Gold Club membership to see all of those rankings plus all of our updated state record lists, totally authentic historical features, recruiting player ratings and more, CLICK HERE.
Note: These rankings are based on the usual factors of schedule strength, head-to-head wins and results from the first round of the regional playoffs. We can’t obviously do division rankings until after the CIF announces regional brackets since no one knows which divisions to put any of the teams in. We also like to do these rankings since the upcoming divisional all-state teams will be based on these same divisions.
(After games of Tuesday, March 1)
OPEN DIVISION
1. Etiwanda 28-0
2. La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 24-2
3. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 26-2
4. Carondelet (Concord) 25-2
5. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 25-1
6. Centennial (Corona) 25-6
7. Mission Hills (San Marcos) 24-7
8. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 22-5
9. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-5
10. Clovis West (Fresno) 26-3**
11. Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 22-2
12. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 25-3
13. Folsom 26-3
14. San Ramon Valley (Danville) 26-4
Notes: Both Etiwanda and Carondelet received byes in the first round of the regional playoffs. Both brackets therefore only consisted of seven teams. All 14 teams were written up in this week’s State TOP 25 overall rankings and occupied the first 14 spots.
Nia Anderson from St. Mary’s of Stockton plays with a lot of passion, which helps her on defense and battling for rebounds. Photo: @PhotosNextLevel / Twitter.com.
DIVISION I
1. Salesian (Richmond) 18-5
2. St. Mary’s (Stockton) 19-7**
3. Rosary (Fullerton) 16-9
4. St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 19-7
5. Valley Christian (San Jose) 21-7
6. Orangewood Academy (Gard. Gr.) 21-9
7. Windward (Los Angeles) 20-10
8. Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 16-8
9. Vanden (Fairfield) 25-3
10. Bakersfield 25-1
11. Laguna Creek (Elk Grove) 26-2
12. Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 19-6
13. Viewpoint (Calabasas) 20-7
14. Camarillo 30-2
15. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 23-5
Bubble: Birmingham (Lake Balboa) 17-9*, Granada Hills Charter (Granada Hills) 24-3, St. Francis (Mountain View) 17-10*, Westchester (Los Angeles) 17-12*.
Notes: These rankings don’t match the seeds by the CIF, but the No. 1 seed in the north, Salesian and the No. 1 in the south, Rosary, sure do. The Pride began play on their side of the bracket with a 76-40 win over Acalanes of Lafayette. Makiah Asidanya led the team with 17 points and five rebounds. Rosary, which has been making it a habit to go on regional playoff runs after dropping down from CIF Southern Section Open Divisions, had a first-round bye. Until you get to Vanden in the north and Bakersfield in the south, all of these teams were placed in the same order as they appeared in our earlier released State Top 25. Tuesday’s scores also didn’t come in with any upsets. We wouldn’t say that Camarillo beating Birmingham in the south as a No. 11 over a No. 6 was an upset, either. The Scorpions came into it at 29-2. UCLA-bound Gabriela Jaquez also pushed her season scoring total to 1,090 points.
Bryan Gardere has been Piedmont’s head coach since 2002. Photo: piedmontextra.com.
DIVISION II
1. San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 23-6
2. Antelope 22-6
3. Santiago (Corona) 22-9
4. Piedmont 23-6**
5. Ontario Christian 25-4**
6. Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 22-5**
7. Bonita Vista (Chula Vista) 17-11
8. Los Gatos 25-3
9. Bishop’s (La Jolla) 16-7
10. McClatchy (Sacramento) 20-6
Bubble: Brentwood (Los Angeles) 22-11, Caruthers 26-3**, Lick-Wilmerding (San Francisco) 21-7*, Lincoln (Stockton) 21-9, Lutheran (Orange) 24-8***, Menlo School (Atherton) 17-7, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 14-8*.
Notes: In looking over the brackets for the north & south it was impossible not to notice that SoCal top seed Santiago of Corona suffered a 68-44 loss to San Joaquin Memorial early in the season. The Panthers also have losses to nationally ranked DeSoto (Texas) and Corona Centennial (Open Division). The team seems to have adjusted after a coaching change, and won on Tuesday, 56-46, over Del Oro of Loomis. Despite that, SJM is still traveling to play Los Gatos on Thursday in 4 v 5 matchup in the quarterfinals since the Wildcats are higher seeded. In the win vs the Golden Eagles, Meadow Roland poured in 28 points. NorCal No. 1 seed Piedmont also won on Tuesday. SoCal No. 4 seed Santa Margarita went down to No. 13 Bishop’s of La Jolla, but that is a team that has played up often (including crosstown La Jolla Country Day) so we wouldn’t say that was an upset at all.
DIVISION III
1. Oakland Tech (Oakland) 17-11
2. La Salle (Pasadena) 28-2
3. Scripps Ranch (San Diego) 23-6
4. Carlsbad 20-12
5. Lincoln 28-3
6. Dixon 22-3
7. Priory (Los Altos Hills) 15-9
8. Central (Fresno) 22-7
9. Buchanan (Clovis) 19-12
10. Porterville 27-4
Bubble: Clovis 14-15*, Evergreen Valley (San Jose) 23-2, Lawndale 24-5*, Orcutt Academy (Orcutt) 22-8, Pleasant Valley (Chico) 22-9*, Shadow Hills (Indio) 27-4.
Notes: While the No. 1 seeds in NorCal and SoCal both won on Tuesday, the No. 2s both lost. Regardless, we still have Oakland Tech on top overall. The Bulldogs have played an impressive schedule with a best win against San Joaquin Memorial. They won in the first-round, 59-43, over Homestead of Cupertino. Lincoln of Lincoln in the north and La Salle in the south are the No. 1 seeds that won on Tuesday. The No. 2 in the north that went down was Pleasant Valley of Chico (which lost to Evergreen Valley of San Jose. In the south, it was No. 2 Lawndale going down to Orcutt Academy. Clovis, Central of Fresno and Buchanan have played each other several times in the same league and looked like all of them would be tough to knock out in D3. Buchanan got past No. 4 seed West County of Sebastopol, Central beat No. 5 East Union of Mantec, but Clovis lost as a No. 10 to No. 7 Priory of Los Altos Hills,
DIVISION IV
1. San Marcos (Santa Barbara) 22-6
2. Calaveras (San Andreas) 28-4**
3. University Prep (Redding) 21-5**
4. Corcoran 26-3
5. Branson (Ross) 20-6
6. Yucca Valley 18-7
7. Harker Academy (San Jose) 25-2
8. Trinity Classical (Valencia) 20-10
9. Imperial 25-6
10. Colfax 26-6*
Bubble: Gateway (San Francisco) 23-5, Half Moon Bay 20-7***, King/Drew (Los Angeles) 17-12, LACES (Los Angeles) 10-8, Mills (Millbrae) 14-12, Placer (Auburn) 20-10.
Notes: San Marcos is the No. 3 seed for the south, but we are ranking the Royals highest since they have a far superior computer ranking than either Yucca Valley or Trinity Classical. Since their section playoff loss was by just five points to D1 Oaks Christian, we’re also going with them in front of NorCal No. 2 seed Calaveras or No. 1 University Prep. On Tuesday, San Marcos defeated Taft of Woodland Hills, 56-53. The other top seeds in the south all won in the first round as well. We have Corcoran higher than some of them with a superb record and a 2,000-point career scorer in Aaliyah Thompson. In the north, No. 4 seed Colfax lost to No. 13 Harker Academy. We’re not sure if Harker, though, should have been much higher. It has just a five-point loss to D2 No. 3 seed Menlo School.
DIVISION V
1. San Domenico (San Anselmo) 20-11
2. University (San Francisco) 15-9
3. Bear River (Lake of the Pines) 23-2
4. Victory Christian Academy (Chula Vista) 17-11**
5. Mt. Diablo (Concord) 24-5
6. Verdugo Hills 23-10
7. Rancho Buena Vista (Vista) 18-11
8. Trinity (Weaverville) 24-5
9. Shalhevet (Los Angeles) 20-6
10. Orland 19-9
Bubble: Bret Harte (Altaville) 19-9, Highland (Bakersfield) 16-14, Maywood CES (Maywood) 20-5.
Notes: In a NorCal first round game on Tuesday, San Domenico posted a 49-8 victory over John Adams Academy of Roseville. There were some other monster-sized routs in D5, but other than in the smallest (or lowest) divisions the type of scores that competitive equity seeding is supposed to promote most definitely happened. NorCal top seed Bear River had a bye while SoCal top seed Verdugo Hills had a win. Victory Christian Academy is the school in which head coach Sa’de Wiley-Gatewood stepped down from in order for the team to avoid any sanctions from a rules violation. Sa’de, of course, is a former Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year from Lynwood.
*Indicates season complete
**Indicates forfeits part of record
*** Indicates season complete & forfeits
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
