MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings

Video: Top 25 high school girls basketball rankings

Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) was the lone team to drop from the Top 10 in this week's MaxPreps Top 25 national girls high school basketball rankings. The Crusaders lost 65-61 to No. 12 Riverdale Baptist last week and fell 12 spots to No. 16.

The good news for the Crusaders is they've got a chance at redemption Friday with a home game against No. 11 St. John-Vianney (Holmdel, N.J.).

The top three squads remained cemented, for now, as La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla, Calif.), Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Mount Notre Dame (Cincinnati) are a combined 61-2 on the year.

Trenton Catholic Academy (Trenton, N.J.) is the lone team to enter this week's rankings after a solid season thus far. The Iron Mikes have wins over New Hope Academy and St. Laurent with a good loss to No. 7 Bishop McNamara.

La Jolla Country Day can kick it into cruise control the rest of the regular season — and really, only 20-1 Westview looks like a challenge in the San Diego Section playoffs. The next step is a big one, though, as the Southern California Regional Open will be chock full of land mines.

Legacy Early College has played some quality teams — notably Winston Salem Christian — and done well, so its two upcoming meetings with Hamilton Heights should be competitive. But Hamilton Heights is No. 2 for a reason.

St. Joseph Central is a latecomer to the Top 25, but has not lost this season — and is Saturday's opponent. Looking ahead to the Ohio postseason would not be a good tactic for Mount Notre Dame.

St. Michael-Albertville gave Hopkins a good game last week, which is rare. In fact, the 88-80 win was Hopkins' only one by fewer than 10 points this season. The rematch is Feb. 18, at St. Michael-Albertville.

Brentwood School is one of many Southern California teams that has enough talent to play with pretty much anyone, and if everything goes just right, they'll make Sierra Canyon work really, really hard to get a win.

Duncanville will undoubtedly manage to stay under 100 points the rest of the regular season, which appears to be the only challenge prior to postseason.

Bishop McNamara gets the tough part of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference schedule this week, drawing 15-3 Bishop McConnell (a winner over No. 23 Paul VI earlier this year) at home Saturday, and then at PVI Feb. 4.

Through no fault of its own, Edison Academy has not played a terribly difficult schedule, and though Saturday's opponent, Renaissance, is 10-1, uber-talented Edison should have no problem.

DeSoto's two losses are to No. 6 Duncanville and league rival South Grand Prairie, but after beating South Grand Prairie 51-34 last week, DeSoto also has wins over both those teams.

Ensworth plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, and after two games against league opponents, the third is against Providence Christian Academy, which has the best record of the trio.

Though next Tuesday's opponent, Red Bank Regional, is always a tough out, the big one is Friday against No. 16 Long Island Lutheran. At Long Island Lutheran.

After knocking off previous No. 4 Long Island Lutheran, and watching two other teams ranked ahead of them lose, Riverdale Baptist jumps four spots. Only an upset loss to Pallotti is keeping Riverdale Baptist out of the Top 10.

There's nothing like a league rivalry, and Poly rose up and shocked St. Frances, snapping its 15-game winning streak and tumbling St. Frances out of the Top 10. A December win over No. 14 Southeast Raleigh, though, stopped the slide at No. 13.

Southeast Raleigh should survive the rest of conference play and roll into the playoffs as the 4A favorite — but that 34-31 loss to St. Frances still rankles, as Southeast Raleigh's lowest point total aside from that game was in a 55-6 win.

Windward is one of those "second-tier" SoCal teams that has just enough losses to be on the outside of the Top 25 looking in. But the four losses are all to quality teams, including a 56-54 defeat at the hands of No. 7 Sierra Canyon, so Long Beach Poly will definitely have its hands full Saturday.

After getting bounced from the ranks of the unbeaten, and the Top 5, by No. 12 Riverdale Baptist, an opportunity for redemption shows up on the schedule Friday: No. 11 St. John-Vianney makes the trip to Brookville.

Is the upstart from West Virginia the real deal? We'll find out Saturday when St. Joseph Central plays No. 3 Mount Notre Dame in Ohio. And does the site matter? The Buckeye State has been a notoriously tough place for out-of-staters.

Rosary shocked Mater Dei 65-55 on Jan. 7, in Mater Dei's palatial gym, but then the young SoCal team went to Rosary and held on for a 64-62 win. Only two games remain before postseason begins.

Northwestern will be one of the first Top 25 teams to start postseason, as the 4A sections begin next Tuesday. Harrison, which is 19-2, and 16-5 Marion are in the same bracket, though Northwestern has already beaten Harrison 73-28.

Wayne has not been tested as much as many of the teams in the Top 25, but the Wednesday night trip to Kettering to face Fairmont, a two-point victim to Wayne at home, is more than just another midterm.

After beating Tampa Bay Tech, which began the season in the Top 25, Lake Highland Prep made it clear exactly which team is the best in Florida. Of course, postseason remains, but the many Florida divisions will keep the top teams from meeting again.

Trenton Catholic jumps onto the list on the basis of a solid season's work. The only loss is No. 7 Bishop McNamara, and wins over New Hope (which just knocked South Shore out of the Top 25) and St. Laurent combine for a rankings-worthy record.

Paul VI will likely not be No. 23 for long. PVI will either rise after upsetting No. 7 Bishop McNamara or risk dropping out entirely after a trip to battle-tested Elizabeth Seton.

Westlake has one regular season game left before moving on to the playoffs, but the Peach State's best may find the road to a state title easier than some expect.

After handling a strong Montini Catholic team, Sacred Heart moves into the traditional Louisville Invitational, which gives all the local teams another shot at knocking each other off.