MaxPreps Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings

For the first time this year, no one dropped out of the Xcellent 25 — but No. 24 Oakland is hanging on only because of a November win over No. 16 Shades Valley.

But 21-1 New Hope Christian Academy (Thomasville, N.C.), which has lost only to No. 2 Riverdale, and just beat Georgia power Norcross by 20, is waiting in the wings, along with 17-0 Life Center Academy (Burlington, N.J.), so any upsets could result in some radical changes.

And though some states are in the middle of league play, others are getting close to postseason, which is when the Xcellent 25 will get seriously shaken up.

MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Girls Basketball Rankings Presented by the Army National Guard



1. (Last week 1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 20-0
At 17-4, JSerra might seem like a solid opponent for the Monarchs, especially with a couple nice wins already. But the two teams already met, and Mater Dei won by 33. So expect no changes at No. 1 next week.

2. (2) Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 20-0
After fending off No. 21 Blackman last Friday, the Warriors now get No. 24 Oakland this Friday. Talk about a tough league …

Read Mitch Stephens' story on the emergence of Murfreesboro as a girls basketball hotbed

3. (3) North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) 18-0
Norcross is a long-time Georgia power, and features all-everything Diamond DeShields — but has lost two straight games. North Gwinnett, which beat Norcross by 15 last week, must now travel to Norcross to face a talented and frustrated team.

4. (4) Duncanville (Texas) 30-0
Cedar Hill, Friday's opponent, beat Mansfield Timberview. Mansfield Timberview lost to Duncanville by only eight Friday, so maybe Duncanville will be challenged. Then again, Duncanville already beat Cedar Hill by 21.

5. (6) Fairmont (Kettering, Ohio) 14-0
The Firebirds welcomed No. 13 Regis Jesuit to Ohio's Classic in the Country with a 43-35 win, but there's no time to gloat — next up is No. 17 Centerville, which lost by only seven the first time the two teams met.{PAGEBREAK} 6. (7) Marion County (Lebanon, Ky.) 22-0
Hathaway Brown may be a smaller Ohio school with three losses, but Hathaway has a win over Whitney Young of Chicago, which means Friday's game won't be easy. And then No. 11 Science Hill is on tap Saturday.



7. (8) Windward (Los Angeles, Calif.) 19-0
Windward played its closest game of 2013 Monday — and won by 30. On Saturday, though, it's SoCal power Long Beach Poly, and the game will be much tighter.

8. (10) Shabazz (Newark, N.J.) 14-0
Blair Academy just wouldn't go away until Zaire O'Neal scored for the third time in the final 73 seconds to give Shabazz a 52-51 win over a team that had lost just once all year. And unbeaten Phillipsburg is next.

9. (11) St. Mary's (Phoenix) 19-1
Pinnacle was supposed to give St. Mary's a battle, but the No. 9 Knights went ahead early and never looked back in a 20-point win. Maybe it will be closer in the playoffs.

10. (15) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) 20-0
Seton is a quality opponent, but no threat to the elite teams in the DMV. Still, Friday's game isn't a gimme, and the back-loaded schedule will start to heat up come February.{PAGEBREAK} 11. (13) Science Hill (Johnson City, Tenn.) 19-2
The Hilltoppers haven't been challenged much, but the trip to Kentucky to play No. 6 Marion County Saturday should get the engines revved up — and determine if this ranking is too high for a two-loss team.

12. (14) Pflugerville (Texas) 29-0
Pflugerville doesn't play a team above .500 until Feb. 5, the last game of the regular season. And the Panthers already beat that opponent, Cedar Ridge, by 31.

13. (12) Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.) 13-1
No. 5 Fairmont was too tough for young Regis Jesuit at the Classic in the Country in Ohio, but Regis bounced back to thump McKinley, another solid Ohio team, by 29.



14. (20) Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.) 16-3
Lindsey Spann (20 points), Amanda Fioravanti (17) and tough defense propelled Good Counsel to a tip-to-horn 70-60 win over previous No. 5 St. John's. But Pennsylvania's Archbishop Carroll is another challenge Sunday.

15. (5) St. John's (Washington, D.C.) 16-1
Two first-quarter technical fouls blunted a St. John's run, and the Cadets never got back in the game against No. 14 Good Counsel. The series now stands at 1-1, and the two might meet again in the Washington Catholic Athletic Confrerence playoffs.{PAGEBREAK} 16. (16) Shades Valley (Birmingham, Ala.) 22-1
The Mounties handled two more tough opponents, and even though they lost to No. 24 Oakland early in the year, their two wins over Hoover, a very good team, justify this ranking.

17. (17) Centerville (Ohio) 16-1
The folks in Ohio don't think Centerville is as good as Twinsburg or Reynoldsburg. The Elks play No. 5 Fairmont Wednesday, so much will be revealed.

18. (18) Columbus North (Columbus, Ind.) 21-0
There's a win over Whitney Young on the resume, but that's about it in terms of regional or national quality. It would have been nice if the Bulldogs would have challenged themselves a bit more.

19. (19) Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) 15-3
After hanging on to beat Kelsey Plum and La Jolla Country Day, the Dragons will return to league play, where they might occasionally break a sweat — but only occasionally.

20. (21) St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.) 19-1
McNair, with 6-4 post Mandy Coleman, was the only unbeaten team left in Northern Calfiornia — but the Rams blew McNair away with their unrelenting pressure.{PAGEBREAK} 21. (9) Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 18-1
Blackman trailed No. 2 Riverdale by 21 in the third quarter, but rallied to get within single digits before losing 55-42. The teams will meet again Feb. 8, though, at Blackman, and the Lady Blaze have to feel they'll shoot better than 23 percent from the field.



22. (22) Central Catholic (Portland, Ore.) 14-3
The Rams are coasting through league play, with a 28-point win over St. Mary's Academy the closest so far. But Oregon City and South Medford, among others, will make the 6A playoffs much more challenging.

23. (23) Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) 18-3
The Crusaders took a quick trip to Las Vegas and disposed of two West Coast opponents. The next test will be against D.C.'s Woodson Saturday.

24. (24) Oakland (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 14-2
The Patriots' last two regular season games are at No. 2 Riverdale and at No. 21 Blackman. When they played the two at home, the closest game was a 17-point loss.

25. (25) Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis) 15-0
The Red Knights will take that unbeaten record to Kentucky this weekend, and though they'll be favored, looking past seven-loss Mercy would be a mistake. Mercy has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, and won't be intimidated.

Dropped out: None.