Duncanville, DeSoto tangle in Texas playoffs; No. 1 La Jolla Country Day back in action after two week break.
Video: Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings
Postseason action heats up as La Jolla Country Day remains No. 1.
Only two teams — Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) and Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.) — dropped out of this week's MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings and there was some minor shuffling after Bishop McNamara (previously No. 14) slipped past Paul VI (previously No. 12).
There is sure to be more to come in next week's edition as No. 6 Duncanville beat No. 7 DeSoto in Texas playoff action Tuesday night and No. 2 Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and No. 5 Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) are on a collision course at the National Association of Christian Athletes tournament.
And of course, the deeper teams go into their state tournaments, the greater the chances of an upset. Rankings are based on a full season's worth of work, but sometimes a team can struggle early — injuries, etc. — and take some losses that knock them out of rankings' contention, only to figure things out and start playing really well down the stretch.
Still, No. 1 La Jolla Country Day is probably safe for another week and No. 3 Mount Notre Dame (Cincinnati) and No. 4 Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) also appear to be secure, but then again, any sense of security at this point of the season is pretty much guaranteed to be false.
MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings
McKayla Williams, Windward
Photo by Mark Jones
Due to the structure of the San Diego Section postseason, La Jolla Country Day has played one game since Feb. 13 — but gets back to action against Bonita Vista on Wednesday. The bigger test, though, will be Cathedral Catholic on Saturday.
Hamilton Heights joins No. 5 Riverdale Baptist and potent New Hope at the National Association of Christian Athletes championship this week. Barring disaster, Hamilton Heights will play the winner of Riverdale Baptist and New Hope on Friday.
Mount Notre Dame's hopes for a national title depend on winning the Ohio Division I crown first — and 22-3 Loveland is Saturday's opponent. That's the first of five straight wins, all against strong opposition, that Mount Notre Dame will need to finish unbeaten.
The AAAA playoffs begin with a game against Washburn, but even though Wayzata lost to Hopkins 91-64 on Valentine's Day, the league rival will most likely be the toughest out in the three-game Section 6 bracket.
Riverdale Baptist cannot afford to look past Thursday's opponent at the National Association of Christian Athletes championship, as New Hope still has enough talent to win a lot of state titles. The big one, though, is still expected to be Friday's game against No. 2 Hamilton Heights.
Despite Tuesday's win over DeSoto, Duncanville still has a long way to go to win the Texas 6A title — starting Saturday with the winner of the Bell-Martin game. Note those two teams have combined for 64-7 record so far this season.
If you believe in comparative scores, DeSoto should have won Tuesday's game. During two regular season meetings, Duncanville beat DeSoto by 19 but DeSoto beat Duncanville by 20.
West Bloomfield should barely be a bump in the road before Edison begins its quest for Class 2 title in Michigan. Given Edison's talented roster, that quest should end gloriously.
Long Island Lutheran has been a force in New York basketball since 2011, the year it won the Class C Federation title. Since then, LuHi won an A title in 2013, and AA titles in 2014 and 2015 — and of course, is the favorite to win AA again this year.
Hutchison is the last regular season opponent before Ensworth starts the Class II-AA playoffs, which should be noted are a step down from the Class AAA brackets and don't include 28-1 Macon, which is in the Class II-A bracket.
Four-loss Lawrence North is all that stands between Northwestern and a perfect 30-0 season — and there's reason for optimism. Lawrence North lost to Homestead by 14, and Northwestern hammered Homestead, 72-35.
Mater Dei moves up a spot thanks to three tough wins in the very tough Southern Section Open playoffs — and a fourth one Saturday against new No. 19 Windward will give Mater Dei the top seed in the Southern California Regional Open. And then, likely, Mater Dei will play at least two of the teams it just beat again.
After hanging on to beat Paul VI to win the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoff, Bishop McNamara jumps a spot — and could jump higher if A) BMac is invited to the GEICO National High School Championships, and B) wins two games there.
After losing 43-40 to No. 13 Bishop McNamara in a tense battle before an engaged crowd, Paul VI now moves on to the much less competitive Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association playoffs this weekend. Expect two more wins, but not much excitement.
Trenton Catholic finishes up the Mercer County tournament this weekend before moving on to the state playoffs, but it will be tough for the Garden State's best to rise much higher because of a 16-point loss to Bishop McNamara earlier this year.
Despite the lofty ranking, St. Joseph Central is a Class A team in West Virginia, the smallest of the three classes. Though Parkersburg Catholic, the second-rated Class A team, is 20-0, the MaxPreps' computer rates Parkersburg's strength of schedule as 0.3; St. Joseph is at 20.0 (the best in the country is 29.4).
With the venerable Bishop Walsh postseason tournament cancelled, St. Frances can only hope to extend its season if it's invited to the GEICO National High School Championship — and it will take a little bit of luck for that to happen.
Cardinal Gibbons, 25-3, is the semifinal opponent Thursday, and on the other side of the bracket, Cocoa is 26-3. But Bishop Kenny, Cocoa's opponent, with nine losses and the most difficult schedule, would likely be the toughest out.
Windward jumps into the Top 25, replacing Sierra Canyon, which lost twice in pool play in the Southern Section Open, but to stay ranked, Windward must find a way to deal with No. 12 Mater Dei on Friday in the championship game. And then the same group of battle-tested SoCal teams will go at it again in the Southern California Regionals.
The 4A East bracket starts tonight for Southeast Raleigh, but it may take a while before a challenge appears — if one ever does. The closest any North Carolina team has played Southeast Raleigh this year is 18 points.
If strength of schedule matters, Westlake should have an advantage in the AAAAAAA final four, as even though Collins Hill is unbeaten and Cherokee and North Forsyth have only two defeats, the same as Westlake, which has traveled more and faced much better teams.
The Shore Conference Tournament concludes this weekend, with either Manchester Township or Red Bank Catholic as Saturday's opponent, and then the Non-Public A state playoffs begin March 4.
One of those two losses came at the hands of Wayne earlier this year, and should Fairmont get by Walnut Hills on Saturday in the Division I tournament, Wayne would be the likely next opponent. The two teams have split, though Wayne won by two and Fairmont by 20 (in the last meeting).
Cypress Creek gave up 65 points against Heights on Monday, but still won by 39 — yes, that means Cypress Creek put up 104 in the third round of the 6A playoffs. To takes the state title, Cypress Creek needs three more wins, and none will be easy from here on out.
That one loss was to Deer Creek, which is on the opposite side of the 6A bracket, so both teams will have to win five games to reach the March 14 finals. Deer Creek, though, has lost to Norman North (by 11), a team Norman has beaten twice, by 23 and 26.
Dropped out: No. 16 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth Calif.), No. 23 Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.).
