Girls BB: Divisional State Rankings

Just like the boys, here’s our first run through of each CIF division after Tuesday’s first round game and going by our own system of doing rankings. We rank 10 teams in each division and have comments after each one. We’ll have another update next week and then final rankings after the CIF state championships on March 8-9 in Sacramento. No. 1 teams are Archbishop Mitty (Open), Bishop Montgomery of Torrance (D1), Oak Park (D2), Central of Fresno (D3), St. Bernard’s of Eureka (D4) and Lynbrook of San Jose (D5). One of those six teams won a CIF state title last season.

FOR THIS WEEK’S STATE TOP 35 RANKINGS (DONE ON TUESDAY MORNING), CLICK HERE.

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NOTE: Results from Tuesday of this week are included but not the two Wednesday Open Division contests.
*Indicates season complete.
**Indicates forfeit wins/losses not included in record.

OPEN DIVISION
(All 12 teams in order)

1. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 28-0
2. Etiwanda 29-3
3. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 30-2
4. Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 24-7
5. Sage Hill (Newport Beach) 25-4
6. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 28-2
7. Ontario Christian 27-4
8. Clovis West (Fresno) 30-2
9. St. Mary’s (Stockton) 25-5
10. Folsom 25-5
11. San Ramon Valley (Danville) 27-2**
12. Mission Hills (San Marcos) 21-8

DIVISION I
(Counting Tuesday results)

1. Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 19-5
2. Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 21-6
3. Carondelet (Concord) 27-6**
4. Brentwood (Los Angeles) 25-8
5. St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 24-6
6. La Jolla Country Day 25-7
7. McClatchy (Sacramento) 25-6
8. Orangewood Academy (Garden Grove) 22-9
9. Santiago (Corona) 22-12
10. St. Anthony (Long Beach) 25-8*
11. Moreno Valley 29-5
12. Acalanes (Lafayette) 26-6*
13. Centennial (Corona) 19-14*
14. Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 21-7*
15. Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF) 23-4
16. St. Ignatius (SF) 23-4
17. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 25-7
18. Whitney (Rocklin) 23-9
19. Archbishop Riordan (SF) 17-10
20. Lynwood 18-12*
Next: Lutheran (Orange) 21-9*, Rancho Christian (Temecula) 18-8*.
Comments: We can’t ever remember when there was a CIF regional matchup in which there was a No. 1 seed by the CIF taking on a No. 16 seed by the CIF but in actuality we had the No. 16 seed ranked higher. That happened Tuesday night when No. 16 seed McClatchy of Sacramento traveled to No. 1 seed Pinewood and beat the Panthers, 66-64. McClatchy’s low seed is due to the CIF not taking into account the games lost by the Lions when they didn’t have D1 recruit junior Nina Cain due to concussion protocols. The highest ranked team that lost on Tuesday was Centennial of Corona as Moreno Valley bounced back from its loss to St. Anthony of Long Beach to beat the Huskies on the road, 68-60. Before losing in their section final, the Vikings were No. 14 overall in our state rankings. Riordan of San Francisco also came through for an upset win of overall state ranked Acalanes, but the Dons haven’t been at full strength in recent weeks due to a season-ending injury for standout Sophie Chinn.

DIVISION II

1. Oak Park 21-7
2. Oakland Tech (Oakland) 17-11**
3. Vanden (Fairfield) 23-8
4. Pleasant Valley (Chico) 24-7
5. Branham (San Jose) 22-3
6. Colfax 31-2
7. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) 15-18
8. Hamilton (Los Angeles) 25-6
9. Antelope 21-8
10. Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 20-12
Next: Cerritos 24-10, Del Norte (San Diego) 20-10, Louisville (Woodland Hills) 28-4*, Redwood (Larkspur) 25-8.
Comments: Oh boy, here we go again with the Oakland Tech girls. They started the D2 North playoffs with a No. 10 seed, but that’s because officially they have five forfeit losses and some of those forfeit losses were games won on the court against some more than decent teams (including one against Vanden). Tech won on Tuesday 65-53 over No. 7 seed California of San Ramon. The Bulldogs play No. 2 seed Vanden on Thursday. We know the Tech players and coaches want to be in the highest division possible (they won the D1 state title last season) but their best chances this year of keeping alive their streak of winning CIF state titles (they are going for four in a row) probably was going to be in D2. The Bulldogs haven’t lost a playoff game since 2018. The biggest upset on Tuesday was D2 South No. 2 seed Louisville falling to Cerritos, 47-44. It was a matchup of CIFSS champions with the team from a lower division beating a team from a higher division.

DIVISION III

1. Central (Fresno) 19-12
2. Caruthers 21-8
3. University (San Francisco) 25-7
4. Cornerstone Christian (Antioch) 26-7
5. Clovis 18-14*
6. Bakersfield Christian 26-7
7. Heritage (Brentwood) 20-9
8. Canyon (Anaheim) 23-11
9. San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 19-7
10. Palos Verdes (PV Estates) 22-7
Next: Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 22-11**, Dana Hills (Dana Point) 27-6*, Granada Hills Charter (Granada Hills) 18-11, Mills (Millbrae) 20-8, Morro Bay 24-7, Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) 20-10.
Comments: This division could be called the Central Section division, especially with No. 1 south seed Dana Hills going down with a loss on Tuesday to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego with No. 2 seed Bakersfield Christian (Central Section) winning in its game. Central of Fresno, remember, won the CIF D2 state title last season. It went 2-1 in games against Clovis and we would have had those two at No. 1 and No. 2 after Tuesday but Clovis was knocked off by Cornerstone Christian of Antioch. Cornerstone also has a head-to-head win over Bakersfield Christian plus some other good wins. It’s a breakout season for sure for that North Coast Section small school program. It’s also a mystery why Caruthers of the Central Section also was such a low seed by CIF and it was not a surprise at all when the Blue Raiders dominated Christopher of Gilroy on Tuesday, 85-52, in a No. 14 vs No. 3 seed contest.

DIVISION IV

1. St. Bernard’s (Eureka) 26-5
2. Arcata 20-8
3. Newbury Park 26-7
4. Grossmont (El Cajon) 24-8
5. Foothill (Palo Cedro) 20-9
6. Alisal (Salinas) 24-3
7. El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 15-12
8. Lincoln (San Francisco) 24-2**
9. Notre Dame (San Jose) 15-12
10. Escalon 28-4*
Next: Chatsworth 13-12, Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 18-9, Oceanside 20-9.
Comments: Both St. Bernard’s and Arcata, the top two seeds in the north and local rivals in the Humboldt-Del Norte region of the state, have better computer rankings than Newbury Park, the top seed in the south, which is why we went with those two teams at No. 1 and No. 2. St. Bernard’s has two wins over Arcata, the last one by just 52-49. All three teams won on Tuesday in first round games. The biggest upset in the first round was Escalon falling at home as a No. 3 seed to Notre Dame of San Jose. This also was the division on Tuesday that saw the Lincoln Mustangs of San Francisco defeat the Lincoln Zebras of Lincoln in an all-Lincoln matchup. The Mustangs are now going to take on St. Bernard’s in the regional semifinals.

DIVISION V

1. Lynbrook (San Jose) 19-9
2. Antelope Valley (Lancaster) 17-6
3. Montgomery (San Diego) 22-11
4. Mendota 25-8
5. Immanuel (Reedley) 25-9
6. Savanna (Anaheim) 25-7
7. Crystal Springs Upland (Hillsborough) 11-12
8. Oakland 19-10
9. Valley Christian (Roseville) 21-7
10. Sage Creek (Oceanside) 20-10
Next: Escondido Charter (Escondido) 22-11, Half Moon Bay 16-11*, Lowell (San Francisco) 18-12.
Comments: We really like what Antelope Valley has going with its one-two punch of Niya Price (27.9 ppg) and Ariana Soil (21.9 ppg) that was the key for its CIFSS D5 championship. The Antelopes won again on Tuesday. Lynbrook was ranked higher for having the best computer ranking in this division by a lot (173) and also won on Tuesday. Half Moon Bay was a team we had put at No. 4 in a rough draft, but Oakland High knocked out the Cougars on Tuesday. Oakland having some big losses to Oakland Tech means nothing when it is now competing against teams in D5.

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.