Riverdale finishes as the mythical national champion.
The last gasp of the high school season was ESPN's National High School Invitational, which really is limited to just a few states that allow their teams to play so late in the season.
Dr. Phillips of Florida won for the second time in the last three years, but only moved up one spot in the final rankings despite beating previous No. 12 Archbishop Spalding. Dr. Phillips, though a Florida champion, just had too many losses to non-ranked teams to justify moving any higher.
Archbishop Spalding also didn't have quite enough to offset a precipitous drop, and finishes the year at No. 24.
But in this final edition for 2012-13, we should conclude by once again giving credit to both Riverdale and Duncanville, Nos. 1 and 2, both unbeaten, and both very, very good high school teams.
MaxPreps Final 2013 Xcellent 25 Girls Basketball Rankings
Riverdale High gets set to take on Science Hill, a step on its route to the mythical national title.
Photo by John Pratt
Season complete.
2. (2) Duncanville (Texas), 42-0Season complete.
3. (3) St. John's (Washington, D.C.), 33-1Season complete.
4. (4) Fairmont (Kettering, Ohio), 27-1Season complete.
5. (5) Marion County (Lebanon, Ky.), 39-0Season complete.
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St. Mary's after winning the AIA Division I title.
Photo by James Conrad
Season complete.
7. (7) Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.), 30-3Season complete.
8. (8) Windward (Los Angeles), 32-1 Season complete.
9. (9) Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis), 33-0Season complete.
10. (10) Bedford North Lawrence (Bedford, Ind.), 28-0Season complete.
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Millbrook after winning the NCHSAA 4A title.
Photo by Fabian Radulescu
Season complete.
12. (13) Central Catholic (Portland, Ore.), 26-3Season complete.
13. (14) Mead (Spokane, Wash.), 25-1Season complete.
14. (15) Hoover (Ala.), 28-4Season complete.
15. (16) Norcross (Ga.), 28-5 Season complete.
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Mater Dei during the Nike Extravaganza.
Photo by David Hood
Season complete.
17. (18) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 29-2Season complete.
18. (19) Centerville (Ohio), 26-2Season complete.
19. (20) North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.), 30-2Season complete.
20. (21) Notre Dame (Quincy, Ill.), 32-0Season complete.
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Dr. Phillips during the Nike TOC.
Photo by Mark Jones
Season complete.
22. (23) Dr. Phillips (Orlando, Fla.), 31-3The Panthers knocked off previous No. 12 Archbishop Spalding in the National High School Invitational, but two of their three losses are to unranked teams.
23. (24) Science Hill (Johnson City, Tenn.), 35-4Season complete.
24. (12) Archbishop Spalding (Severn, Md.), 30-3Spalding even had a bit of a homecourt advantage in the National High School Invitational, but fell hard to Dr. Phillips -- and fell 12 spots in the rankings.
25. (25) Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.), 26-2Season complete.
