Girls BB: State Rankings By Division

There’s only one new team in a No. 1 position after Saturday night’s regional semifinals, and that would be Branson of Ross in D4. Entering Tuesday’s regional finals, the other No. 1 teams are Etiwanda (Open), Salesian of Richmond (D1), San Joaquin Memorial (D2), Oakland Tech (D3) & San Domenico (D5).

Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. We decided to make this second look at the divisional rankings free as well, but the final rankings compiled after the state finals will be for Gold Club members only 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 Saturday, March 5)
(Teams in the regional finals Tuesday are listed with asterisk)
(Teams with two asterisks indicate forfeits are part of their records)
(Previous ranking in parentheses)

OPEN DIVISION
1. (1) Etiwanda 29-0*
2. (3) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 28-2*
3.. (2) La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) 25-3
4. (4) Carondelet (Concord) 26-2*
5. (5) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 27-1*
6. (6) Centennial (Corona) 26-7
7. (9) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-6
8. (7) Mission Hills (San Marcos) 24-8
9. (8) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 22-6
10. (10) Clovis West (Fresno) 27-3**
11. (12) Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 26-4
12. (11) Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 22-3
13. (13) Folsom 26-4
14. (14) San Ramon Valley (Danville) 26-6
Notes: Look for details either late Monday or early Tuesday for these teams in our State Top 25 overall rankings. Etiwanda, Sierra Canyon, Carondelet & Mitty won in regional semifinals on Saturday night. Sierra Canyon avenged an earlier loss to La Jolla Country Day. Clovis West made a long road trip to San Jose & lost to Mitty.

DIVISION I
1. (1) Salesian (Richmond) 20-5*
2. (4) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 21-7*
3. (2) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 20-8
4. (6) Orangewood Academy (Gard. Gr.) 23-9*
5. (7) Windward (Los Angeles) 22-10*
6. (3) Rosary (Fullerton) 17-10
7. (8) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 17-9
8. (5) Valley Christian (San Jose) 21-8
9. (9) Vanden (Fairfield) 25-4
10. (10) Bakersfield 25-2
11. (11) Laguna Creek (Elk Grove) 26-3
12. (15) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 23-6
13. (12) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 20-7
14. (13) Viewpoint (Calabasas) 20-8
15. (14) Camarillo 30-3
Dropped Out: None
Bubble: Birmingham (Lake Balboa) 17-9, Granada Hills Charter (Granada Hills) 24-34, St. Francis (Mountain View) 17-10, Westchester (Los Angeles) 17-12.
Notes: If Salesian keeps winning by the margins it’s been winning in the D1 playoffs so far, questions will arise why it wasn’t placed in the Open Division. The win vs. Laguna Creek last Thursday was 80-51. It was 64-37 in Saturday’s contest vs Bishop O’Dowd. In fairness to the CIF, though, the Pride did lose at home in the CIF North Coast Section Open Division, 79-64, to a San Ramon Valley club that was a somewhat obvious No. 7 seed for the NorCal Open. It was expected that Salesian would meet St. Mary’s of Stockton in the region finals when the pairings were announced, but St. Ignatius pulled off a 48-46 upset of the Rams on Saturday. In the south, semifinal winners were Windward (defeated top seed Rosary 80-72) & Orangewood (defeated Bishop Montgomery 74-60).

DIVISION II
1. (1) San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno) 25-6*
2. (2) Antelope 24-6*
3. (1) Santiago (Corona) 24-9*
4. (9) Bishop’s (La Jolla) 17-8
5. (NR) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 22-12
6. (NR) Lutheran (Orange) 24-8
7. (NR) Sage Hill (Newport Beach) 25-10*
8. (5) Ontario Christian 25-4**
9. (7) Bonita Vista (Chula Vista) 18-12
10. (10) McClatchy (Sacramento) 20-7
Dropped Out: No. 4 Piedmont; No. 6 Long Beach Poly (Long Beach); No. 8 Los Gatos.
Bubble: Caruthers 26-4**, Lick-Wilmerding (San Francisco) 21-7, Lincoln (Stockton) 22-10, , Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 22-6, Los Gatos 25-4, Menlo School (Atherton) 18-8, Piedmont 23-7, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 14-8.
Notes: This is a division in which we crushed the CIF. It had Piedmont top seed with McClatchy No. 2. We ranked SJM & Antelope in the top two spots & they are indeed playing each other in Tuesday’s region final. The Panthers took care of Stockton Lincoln on Saturday, 57-45, which was the team that upset Piedmont in the previous round. The Titans edged Menlo School, 45-44. Top seed Santiago in the south has been living up to its placement. The Sharks downed Bishop’s of La Jolla on Saturday, 63-50. Bishop’s still went way up in the rankings since it won in the previous round over Brentwood (which won in its previous game over Orange Lutheran & OLu still has to be ahead of Sage Hill for winning vs Sage Hill in the CIFSS finals. Sage Hill is playing Santiago next with a trip to Sacramento on the line after it beat Ontario Christian, 61-56, on Saturday.

DIVISION III
1. (1) Oakland Tech (Oakland) 19-11*
2. (2) La Salle (Pasadena) 30-2*
3. (5) Lincoln 30-3*
4. (10) Porterville 29-4*
5. (3) Scripps Ranch (San Diego) 24–7
6. (4) Carlsbad 20-13
7. (7) Priory (Los Altos Hills) 16-10
8. (8) Central (Fresno) 23-8
9. (9) Buchanan (Clovis) 19-13
10. (6) Dixon 22-4
Dropped Out: None.
Bubble: Clovis 14-15, Evergreen Valley (San Jose) 23-3, Lawndale 24-5, Orcutt Academy (Orcutt) 23-9, Pleasant Valley (Chico) 22-9, Shadow Hills (Indio) 27-5.
Notes: What looked like it might have been a mistake to put Oakland Tech in D3 has been playing like that so far. The Bulldogs, who have a 15-point win over San Joaquin Memorial, won in their regional semi 72-34 over Priory and beat Dixon in their previous playoff game, 78-38. The question will be if Tech will be able to keep it up when it has to go on the road on Tuesday to play No. 1 seeded Lincoln. The Fighting Zebras moved on by getting past Central of Fresno, 38-35. That’s the type of school, too, in which the gym could be quite full with a tough environment for a visiting team. Lincoln isn’t the only 30-win team in the bracket, either. La Salle won its 30th game with a 52-36 triumph against Scripps Ranch. The team that the Lancers are playing on Tuesday, Porterville, also would reach 30 wins if it were to win that game. The Panthers advanced with a 62-37 romp past Orcutt Academy.

DIVISION IV
1. (5) Branson (Ross) 22-6*
2. (2) Calaveras (San Andreas) 29-5**
3. (6) Yucca Valley 20-7*
4. (NR) Argonaut (Jackson) 27-6*
5. (9) Imperial 27-6*
6. (8) Trinity Classical (Valencia) 21-11
7. (1) San Marcos (Santa Barbara) 22-7
8. (7) Harker Academy (San Jose) 25-3
9. (NR) King/Drew (Los Angeles) 18-13
10. (NR) Mills (Millbrae) 15-13
Dropped Out: Previous No. 3 University Prep (Redding); No. 4 Corcoran; No. 10 Colfax.
Bubble: Colfax 26-6, Corcoran 26-4, Gateway (San Francisco) 23-6, Half Moon Bay 20-7**, LACES (Los Angeles) 10-9, Placer (Auburn) 20-11; University Prep (Redding) 21-6.
Notes: Branson is one of the few schools that has won boys/girls CIF state titles in the same season and currently has a chance to do that again. The girls got past Calaveras last Saturday, 60-53, and moved to the top of these rankings. Calaveras didn’t drop because it defeated Argonaut in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs plus two other times and that is the same team that Branson is facing next for the NorCal crown. Argonaut won on the other side of the NorCal bracket, 57-49, against Mills. Previous No. 3 University Prep had lost to Mills in the previous round. On the SoCal side, Yucca Valley is the top seed and moved on last Saturday by downing King/Drew, 52-46. Previous No. 1 ranked San Marcos lost in the region quarterfinals to Imperial (we goofed on that ranking) and then Imperial advanced to Tuesday with a 33-31 win against Trinity Classical.

DIVISION V
1. (1) San Domenico (San Anselmo) 22-11*
2. (2) University (San Francisco) 17-9*
3. (4) Victory Christian Academy (Chula Vista) 19-11*
4. (8) Trinity (Weaverville) 25-6
5. (5) Mt. Diablo (Concord) 24-6
6. (9) Shalhevet (Los Angeles) 22-6*
7. (7) Rancho Buena Vista (Vista) 18-11
8. (6) Verdugo Hills 24-11
9. (NR) Crystal Springs Upland (Hillsborough) 12-12
10. (3) Bear River (Lake of the Pines) 23-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Orland.
Bubble: Bret Harte (Altaville) 19-10, Highland (Bakersfield) 16-15, Maywood CES (Maywood) 20-6, Orland 19-10.
Notes: Top seeds Bear River (north) & Verdugo Hills (south) are both gone, but the teams we had higher ranked on both sides of the board are still going. San Domenico gained its berth in the NorCal final with a 57-51 win over a Crystal Springs Upland squad that had upset Bear River in the second round. Up next for the Panthers will be NCS rival University of SF. The Red Devils defeated Trinity in their region semi, 56-51. Victory Christian Academy has had an even easier time of it. After winning in its first regional game 71-25, the Knights then won 81-30 vs Price of Los Angeles, & then on Saturday it was another rout of 63-31 vs Rancho Buena Vista. VCA will now meet Shalhevet in the region final. Shalhevet advanced with a 57-54 win over Verdugo Hills. There would be no issue for the CIF scheduling a state final on a Saturday with Shalhevet (Jewish school) involved since the state final in this division is next Friday.

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