ESPNHS California

It’s two years in a row that a Mater Dei player earns top statewide honor as Fields tops teammate Jordan Adams and three others to be the Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year.

Her stay at Mater Dei of Santa Ana was a short one, but Nirra Fields certainly made her mark on one of the most successful programs in recent California girls basketball history.

Now, after leading her team to its third straight CIF state championship, the Canadian-born Fields joins Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis to become the second consecutive Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year to wear a Monarch uniform.

“It wasn’t my goal to win Ms. Basketball or Gatorade Player of the Year, but it’s definitely an honor coming from Canada where it’s not really known for basketball but hockey,” said Fields, who last month was named Gatorade California Player of the Year.

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St. Francis of Mountain View cooled off by Nevada foe to clear path for Mater Dei to assume role as state’s new No. 1 team.

Other highlights from this week’s baseball rankings include:

El Dorado, El Toro benefit from top finish at Hard 9 National Classic with Golden Hawks going in as a newcomer and Chargers moving up to No. 10.

St. Mary’s of Stockton wins tournament in which St. Francis lost and gets five-spot bump.

Only other newcomer this week is Rancho Buena Vista.

Click here to see the complete list within the ESPNHS rankings tool.

Valley Christian of San Jose moves back up closer to No. 1 St. Francis as Mater Dei holds steady at No. 2 despite loss.

Other highlights from this week’s baseball rankings include:

Alemany, Clovis West and Campolindo get bumped up into the top 10.

De La Salle nips St. Mary’s of Stockton and debuts at No. 15.

Cathedral Catholic, Vista win titles at San Diego Lions tourney and join top 20 as well.

Click here to see the complete list within the ESPNHS rankings tool.

Not one but two teams from Huntington Beach finish in the top 20 for the final rankings. Among those getting nods in expanded version are Alemany, Troy, Bellarmine-Jefferson and Pleasant Grove.

There really weren’t any surprises in this year’s five CIF state championship games contested at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento.

The way ESPNHS POWERADE FAB 50 No. 8 Mater Dei handled Berkeley 57-40 in the D1 title game, based on what teams did against the Monarchs in the Southern Regional playoffs, re-shuffled the rankings of the Northern California teams, but not that much.

Many of the assembled pundits thought the Bishop O’Dowd game with Laguna Hills might be a test for the Dragons, but coach Malik McCord’s girls showed why many consider them a possible top five national team coming into next season.

In the end, four of the five CIF state champions got into the top 40 final rankings and writeups. D5 champ Brookside Christian was considered as well, but had to be behind one too many D1 teams from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.

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Five teams get added into each expanded version of the final rankings with teams to watch for next season included as well. Teams getting final bumps include Brea Olinda, Miramonte of Orinda, Modesto Christian and Ripon Christian.

With help from Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens, here are the ninth and final listings of the top-ranked girls teams in the state this season for each division (records listed after state championship games played on Saturday, March 24; previous ranking in parentheses):

CIF Division I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 34-3
2. (2) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 31-4
3. (4) Brea Olinda (Brea) 26-7
4. (3) Berkeley 29-3
5. (5) Summit (Fontana) 28-4
6. (6) Santiago (Corona) 31-2
7. (8) Huntington Beach 26-6
8. (9) Edison (Huntington Beach) 23-4
9. (7) Etiwanda 23-4
10. (10) El Toro (Lake Forest) 27-4
11. (11) Hanford 25-5
12. (12) Troy (Fullerton) 19-8
13. (14) Narbonne (Harbor City) 28-7
14. (15) San Diego 27-6
15. (13) Kennedy (Sacramento) 26-9
Drops: None.
Expanded Next Five Teams: 16. Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 22-10; 17. Oak Ridge (El Dorado Hills) 25-9; 18. Deer Valley (Antioch) 22-9; 19. Stockdale (Bakersfield) 26-5; 20. Rialto 25-2.
Honorable Mention: Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley) 20-8, Granite Hills (El Cajon) 30-5*, Gunn (Palo Alto) 21-7, Heritage (Brentwood) 25-6, Lowell (San Francisco) 25-6, Palo Alto 19-6.
Teams to Watch Next Season: Berkeley, Corona Santiago, Mater Dei, Long Beach Poly, Huntington Beach Edison, Hanford, Troy, Sacramento Kennedy.

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Teams getting a bump for the final expanded rankings of the 2011-12 season include Bullard of Fresno, Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco and Serra of Gardena.

Other highlights of this week’s expanded, final overall rankings include:

All 10 teams from the final Division IV state rankings get spots in the top 36 with nine of those 10 in the top 22.

Taft of Woodland Hills comes up since loss to Bullard doesn’t look as bad and because of that one win over Loyola.

Among those in expanded rankings are a group from Ventura County, led by Oak Park of Agoura Hills.

Get all the details in the ESPNHS rankings tool.

For each division in the final rankings, we have expanded the number of teams by five and take a look at a few teams to watch for the 2012-13 season. The most changes for the final rankings were in Division III and Division V due to the outcome of the CIF state championship and due to a couple of head-to-head wins that were discovered from early in the season.

With help from Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens, here are the ninth and final listings of the top-ranked boys teams in the state this season for each division (records listed after state championship games played on Saturday, March 24; previous ranking in parentheses):

CIF Division I
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 34-2
2. (2) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 29-3
3. (4) Loyola (Los Angeles) 26-6
4. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 29-6
5. (5) Bullard (Fresno) 32-4
6. (7) De La Salle (Concord) 28-3
7. (9) Taft (Woodland Hills) 29-4
8. (6) Jesuit (Carmichael) 27-6
9. (8) Etiwanda 30-3
10. (10) Lutheran (Orange) 22-11
11. (11) Mission Viejo 28-5
12. (15) Crenshaw (Los Angeles) 24-6
13. (12) Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo) 25-7
14. (13) McClymonds (Oakland) 19-11
15. (14) Dorsey (Los Angeles) 27-9
Drops: None.
Expanded Next 5 Teams: 16. Santa Monica 21-9; 17. Fairfax (Los Angeles) 20-10; 18. Westchester (Los Angeles) 22-9; 19. Deer Valley (Antioch) 28-9; 20. Palisades (Pacific Palisades) 17-11.
Honorable Mention: Bellarmine (San Jose) 18-12, Castro Valley 22-8, Clovis West (Fresno) 22-7, Crescenta Valley (La Crescenta) 26-8, Foothill (Tustin) 24-6, Piedmont Hills (San Jose) 28-4, Upland 20-10.
Teams to Watch Next Season: Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei, Loyola, Sheldon, De La Salle, Woodland Hills Taft, Deer Valley.

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Open Division might be coming next season so here’s a look ahead if it happens and what teams could be in it.

At her last press conference during the CIF basketball championships, retiring executive director Marie Ishida said it was “a toss-up” whether the proposal to add an open division to the basketball championship event would pass when the CIF Federated Council votes on it in May.

To the uninitiated, a preferred total of eight teams in Northern California and eight teams in Southern California would be chosen for the open division after all of the section playoffs are complete. These teams would then compete for north and south open division titles and would then play each other for the open division state crown.

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Mater Dei boys, girls make more history by getting sweep for second straight season.

This boys-girls sweep of the State Team of the Year honor is getting to be old hat for Mater Dei of Santa Ana.

Last year, Mater Dei became the first school in state history to be considered No. 1 in the state overall for both genders. The Monarchs have done it again with the announcement of this year’s final No. 1 team on Monday.

The only difference between the two seasons is that this year’s girls team at Mater Dei was not a clear-cut selection. The Monarchs certainly got a run for their money by La Jolla Country Day of La Jolla.

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As is our custom prior to CIF state finals in football and basketball, we take a crack at choosing which teams we think will win.

Note: All of the following writeups and selections are done with the highest level of respect to both teams and all coaches. We never use point spreads and, sure, some of the scores might be a bit more lopsided than we might think. But you also never know what might happen. After all, these are teenagers.

We had one of our worst years ever in last year’s CIF finals (boys and girls combined) with just six correct and four wrong. We were 7-for-10 in 2010 and were 9-for-10 in 2009.

The following writeups were completed by Ronnie Flores, Harold Abend, Mark Tennis, Paul Muyskens.

Boys Division I
(Saturday, March 24, 8 p.m.)

Cal-Hi Sports’ predicted score:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 77, Sheldon (Sacramento) 66

The marquee game of the 2012 CIF boys state championships could live up to its billing as both teams look for historic victories.

Mater Dei, the top-ranked team in the state and the No. 8 team in the country in the POWERADE FAB 50, is gunning for its second consecutive CIF state title. Sheldon is looking to become the first Sacramento-area Division I state champion ever.

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This year’s CIF state championships on the girls side feature four strong favorites and one game that is almost too close to call.

Note: All of the following writeups and selections are done with the highest level of respect to both teams and all coaches. We never use point spreads and, sure, some of the scores might be a bit more lopsided than we might think. But you also never know what might happen. After all, these are teenagers.

We had one of our worst years ever in last year’s CIF finals (boys and girls combined) with just six correct and four wrong. We were 7-for-10 in 2010 and were 9-for-10 in 2009.

The following writeups were completed by Harold Abend, Paul Muyskens.

Girls Division I
(Saturday, March 24, 9:30 a.m.)

Cal-Hi Sports’ predicted score:
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 61, Berkeley 48

There’s little surprise that these two teams are meeting again for the state’s big school title. What’s different is the makeup of the two teams from last year.

Two-time defending state champion Mater Dei sent Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis off to Connecticut leaving USC-bound and ESPNHS Girls Basketball Class of 2012 No. 2 Jordan Adams and Washington State-bound Alexas Williamson to carry on.

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With one game to go, Mater Dei (D1), Archbishop Mitty (D2), Alemany (D3), Salesian of Richmond (D4) and St. Joseph Notre Dame (D5) look to complete almost wire-to-wire runs atop their state divisions.

More highlights from this week’s lists include:

Our picks of which teams in the north and which teams in the south can still move up in the final rankings depending on which team wins in the CIF state championships.

With help from Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens, here is the eighth and next-to-last listing of boys teams this season for each division (records listed after regional championship games played on Saturday, March 17; previous ranking in parentheses):

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There is a new No. 1 team going into this weekend’s CIF state championships as Archbishop Mitty of San Jose goes to the top in Division II.

More highlights from this week’s lists include:

CIF state title favorites Mater Dei (D1), Bishop O’Dowd (D3) and La Jolla Country Day (D4) heading into their last game in the No. 1 position.

Mission Prep of San Luis Obispo holding on to D5 No. 1 ranking over Brookside Christian with what looks like a toss-up game in Sacramento.

With help from Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens, here is the eighth and next-to-last listing of girls teams this season with analysis and bubble teams for each division (records listed after regional championship games played on Saturday, March 17; previous ranking in parentheses):

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It’s a scramble after No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 La Jolla Country Day and it could get scrambled again for next week’s final rankings after this weekend’s CIF state championships.

There should be some very competitive games this coming weekend at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento.

More in depth analysis of the individual games will be coming from ESPNHS Cal-Hi Sports later this week.

Although we got some argument from La Jolla Day Country Day coach Terri Bamford, the top spot appears to be Mater Dei’s to lose heading into its matchup with Berkeley in the D1 title game.

Windward’s fall from grace has shaken things up, but its team last week isn’t the same one that beat Mater Dei in the Nike Extravaganza, plus the fact Country Day split with Long Beach Poly now becomes an even bigger factor in Mater Dei being in the top position.

There were four newcomers this week with two of them still in action, new No. 15 Laguna Hills and new No. 18 Salesian of Richmond. New No. 16 Foothill (Santa Ana) and new No. 20 Orinda Miramonte both lost in their respective regional title games.

(Through games played on Saturday, March 17)
(Last week’s ranking in parentheses)

1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 33-3
The top spot in California is totally in the Monarchs’ hands after a 54-43 win over a Long Beach Poly team in the CIF Division I Southern Regional title game that has split with No. 2 La Jolla Country Day. A win over Berkeley on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Sacramento at Power Balance Pavilion and coach Kevin Kiernan and his girls are in California’s catbird seat for the third straight season.

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CIF state finals will be No. 1 vs. No. 6, No. 3 vs. No. 9, No. 5 vs. No. 11 and No. 2 vs. No. 8. Biggest riser of the week is Price of Los Angeles. Biggest dropper is De La Salle.

Other highlights of this week’s rankings include:

*Bullard of Fresno latching onto a top 10 position due to its buzzer-beating victory over Long Beach Poly

*Lincoln of San Diego breaking into the honor roll as the only newcomer even with 10 losses on the season

*Mater Dei and Archbishop Mitty getting closer to preseason starting positions of No. 1 and No. 2.

Get all the details in the ESPNHS rankings tool.