Video: Locker Room ReportMegan Peasha discusses all things girls high school basketball.
Spring officially arrives this weekend, and with it most high school athletes are turning their attention to track or softball or swimming — but a few still keep battling on the basketball court.
California's top teams, in fact, won't finish until March 28, and the Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals are in April, though not many state associations allow teams to participate in that East Coast event. That may be changing, however, as Georgia let a boys team play this year, and slowly more and more states are considering letting elite programs get involved.
Still, the most important goal for almost all high school teams is a state championship, and whether it's a small state like Wyoming or a big state like New York, hanging that banner in the gym is the ultimate statement about a team's season.
See playoff brackets from around the nationMaxPreps Xcellent 25 Girls Basketball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard
1. (1 last week) Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia), 30-0
Neumann-Goretti came up one game short of a state title last year, but this year a national title is at stake as well. All that stands in the way Saturday is seven-loss Seton LaSalle, but at this point in the season, there are no gimmes.
2. (2) Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), 32-2
Season complete.
3. (3) St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.), 32-1
St. Mary's had one of its toughest games in the last two months before finally subduing Sacred Heart Cathedral, 70-65, and now moves on to the Northern California Open championship game against 30-2 Miramonte — which eliminated an injury-riddled St. Mary's team from the postseason last year.
4. (4) Cypress Woods (Texas), 35-1
Nancy Mulkey, Cypress Woods
Photo by Kenneth Toso
Season complete.
5. (5) Columbus North (Ind.), 28-1
Season complete.
6. (6) Myers Park (Charlotte, N.C.), 29-1
Myers Park won its second straight 4A title, but had to fight off a determined Southeast Raleigh team that just kept coming back. Myers Park tried to get permission to play in the Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals in early April, but was denied.
7. (11) Chaminade (West Hills, Calif.), 27-3
Is Chaminade peaking at the right time? Clovis West was a 79-40 victim in the Southern California Regional semis, but No. 10 Mater Dei is next. Of course, Chaminade has beaten Mater Dei twice; then again, the total margin was two points.
8. (9) Manasquan (N.J.), 29-2
Manasquan should get by the winner of the Middletown South-Franklin game Thursday, but next up will be one of the two teams that hung losses on Manasquan this year. And that game on Monday will be for the New Jersey state title.
9. (10) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), 32-2
Season complete.
10. (11) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 30-2
Those two losses? Both to No. 7 Chaminade. Both by one point. The two play Saturday for the third time, with the winner moving on to the state championship game March 28.
11. (13) Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 30-1
Dillard will be the No. 1 seed in the 2015 Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals Girls Tournament in New York. The Panthers will face New York PSAL champ South Shore of Brooklyn (20-4) on April 3 at Christ the King High in Queens. The winner will face the winner of Miami County Day vs. Gonzaga Prep April 4 at Madison Square Garden in a nationally-televised game.
12. (14) Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.), 28-1
After disposing of Mayo Tuesday, Shakopee — which Hopkins beat by 20 on Dec. 2 — is next. The big one, though, is the hoped-for rubber match with Eastview in the state title game Saturday.
13. (15) Miami Country Day (Fla.), 30-2
The FHSAA 3A champs will play No. 14 Gonzaga in the semifinals of the Dick's Sporting Goods High School Nationals April 3. It will be their first game since beating Seffner Christian for the FHSAA title Feb. 18.
14. (16) Gonzaga Prep (Spokane, Wash.), 27-0
The two-time WIAA 4A champion Bullpups will put their 50-game winning streak on the line April 3 against Miami Country Day. The WIAA sent the Rainier Beach boys to last season's Dick's event.
15. (17) Whitney Young (Chicago, Ill.), 28-2
Season complete.
16. (18) Heritage Christian (Indianapolis, Ind.), 28-2
Season complete.
17. (20) Konawaena (Hawaii), 31-1
Season complete.
18. (21) Eastview (Apple Valley, Minn.), 29-1
Eastview had no trouble with Andover in the 4A quarterfinals, but St. Michael-Albertville only lost to No. 12 Hopkins by 10, and its other two defeats were by a total of three points. Eastview better not be looking ahead to Saturday's title game.
19. (22) Marian (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), 25-1
Friday's Michigan Class A semifinals might well determine the champion, as Martin Luther King has lost only once as well — to Marian, by one.
20. (24) Capital Prep (Hartford, Conn.), 24-1
Northwest Catholic may have been the 11th seed in Connecticut's L division, but No. 2 seed New Fairfield proved to be no contest in the semifinals, as Northwest Catholic rolled 58-37. Capital Prep, though, is No. 24 in the nation and ready to claim a state title this weekend.
21. (21) Braintree (Mass.), 25-0
Braintree's lone out-of-state win was over New York's Christ the King, which was good but not great this year. But a perfect record and a state title earned Braintree a spot in the Xcellent 25.
22. (25) Easton (New Orleans, La.), 31-1
Season complete.
23. (7) Elizabethtown (Ky.), 32-3
That's why they play the games: Holy Cross scored with three seconds left to knock off Elizabethtown 41-40 and end a great season with a dose of disappointment for the previous No. 7. Elizabethtown's quality schedule. Some big wins kept E-Town in the Xcellent 25, though.
24. (NR) Cumberland Valley (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), 31-1
Cumberland Valley lost to Central Dauphin East before Christmas but has since beaten that team twice — and also won the Diamond State Classic in Delaware and beat solid Riverdale Baptist.
25. (NR) Potter's House Christian (Jacksonville, Fla.), 28-5
Potter's House Christian has a head-to-head win over 29-2 New Hope, plus a victory over No. 2 Blackman — and those five losses are all to quality teams. Yes, New Hope has a better record, but Potter's House strength of schedule (almost all on the road) wins out.
Dropped out: No. 12 Long Beach Poly, No. 23 Maize.
