ESPNHS California: Sue Phillips
CIF Friday Girls BB Championships
March, 23, 2012
Mar 23
10:11
PM ET
By Harold Abend & Ronnie Flores | ESPN.com
Mark Tennis/ESPNHSA pair and a Plum -- Malina Hood, Kelsey Plum and Maya Hood -- stand with CIF trophy.The CIF Division IV and Division II state title games in girls basketball were played at Power Balance Arena in Sacramento. The Division I, Division III and Division V titles will be decided on Saturday.
Division II:
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 56, J.W. North (Riverside) 54
The NorCal representative came in steeped in championship tradition against an upstart SoCal representative looking to win its first state title.
J.W. North, the team with a new coach and a cast of new players looking to become the first Riverside County team to win a girls state title since all-time great Cheryl Miller led Riverside Poly to the Division I title in 1982, played a valiant game.
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.
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.
Important announcement from Cal-Hi Sports | Archived Cal-Hi Sports content
There are no big upsets yet in any of the state’s section playoffs, but that could change by this weekend. This week’s biggest noise in the rankings comes from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, which rolled in its league final against state-ranked St. Ignatius and had to jump into the top 15.
The Cal-Hi Sports caravan was at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills last Saturday for the West Catholic Athletic League playoff championships.
The Archbishop Mitty girls opened up the evening’s sweep by the San Jose school of both the girls and boys playoff titles with a convincing 63-47 victory over St. Ignatius of San Francisco.
In winning, coach Sue Phillips’ charges left no doubt as to who is the top team in the CIF Central Coast Section. The impressive win also enabled Mitty to jump up to No. 14 in this week’s overall state top 20.
Mitty trailed 10-7 early before going on a 17-2 run to take control. The lead got to 19 points on two occasions, and SI was never able to get closer than 13 points after trailing 52-33 early in the fourth quarter.
Monarchs’ sophomore Kelli Hayes led the way with 15 points. Senior guard Vanessa Garner had 13 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three assists. She was instrumental in taking control early and igniting the run.
Pepperdine-bound 6-foot-3 senior Amanda Lovely had a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Emily Dinger scored 11 points with three 3-pointers, including two during the 17-2 run.
“After the loss to SI and especially this week in practice we really turned it on,” said Lovely on a post-game live video feed.
The victory was the third straight playoff title and fifth overall for the Monarchs since the league adopted girls playoffs 10 years ago.
(Through games played on Saturday, Feb. 18)
(Last week’s ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Windward (Los Angeles) 25-3
To say the girls flexed their muscles in the first week of the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA playoffs would be an understatement. First, the Wildcats smothered Nipomo 98-14 in the opening round. Then, in what was a display of total firepower, they posted a 115-46 blasting of Workman (City of Industry). The point total is the equivalent of 173-points in an NBA-length game. Nationally-rated sophomores Kristen Simon and Jordin Canada had double-doubles against Workman. Simon had 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Canada had 21 points and 10 assists with six rebounds and five steals. Texas-bound 6-foot-7 Imani Stafford also had a double-double 20 points and 13 rebounds with five blocks. Coach Steve Smith’s girls will ride a nine-game winning streak into a quarterfinal game with visiting JSerra of San Juan Capistrano.
There are no big upsets yet in any of the state’s section playoffs, but that could change by this weekend. This week’s biggest noise in the rankings comes from Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, which rolled in its league final against state-ranked St. Ignatius and had to jump into the top 15.
The Cal-Hi Sports caravan was at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills last Saturday for the West Catholic Athletic League playoff championships.
The Archbishop Mitty girls opened up the evening’s sweep by the San Jose school of both the girls and boys playoff titles with a convincing 63-47 victory over St. Ignatius of San Francisco.
In winning, coach Sue Phillips’ charges left no doubt as to who is the top team in the CIF Central Coast Section. The impressive win also enabled Mitty to jump up to No. 14 in this week’s overall state top 20.
Mitty trailed 10-7 early before going on a 17-2 run to take control. The lead got to 19 points on two occasions, and SI was never able to get closer than 13 points after trailing 52-33 early in the fourth quarter.
Monarchs’ sophomore Kelli Hayes led the way with 15 points. Senior guard Vanessa Garner had 13 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three assists. She was instrumental in taking control early and igniting the run.
Pepperdine-bound 6-foot-3 senior Amanda Lovely had a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Emily Dinger scored 11 points with three 3-pointers, including two during the 17-2 run.
“After the loss to SI and especially this week in practice we really turned it on,” said Lovely on a post-game live video feed.
The victory was the third straight playoff title and fifth overall for the Monarchs since the league adopted girls playoffs 10 years ago.
(Through games played on Saturday, Feb. 18)
(Last week’s ranking in parentheses)
1. (1) Windward (Los Angeles) 25-3
To say the girls flexed their muscles in the first week of the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA playoffs would be an understatement. First, the Wildcats smothered Nipomo 98-14 in the opening round. Then, in what was a display of total firepower, they posted a 115-46 blasting of Workman (City of Industry). The point total is the equivalent of 173-points in an NBA-length game. Nationally-rated sophomores Kristen Simon and Jordin Canada had double-doubles against Workman. Simon had 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Canada had 21 points and 10 assists with six rebounds and five steals. Texas-bound 6-foot-7 Imani Stafford also had a double-double 20 points and 13 rebounds with five blocks. Coach Steve Smith’s girls will ride a nine-game winning streak into a quarterfinal game with visiting JSerra of San Juan Capistrano.
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