Tiffany Lewis and the Riverdale Lady Warriors are the new No. 1 team in the Xcellent 25 rankings thanks to a Mater Dei loss. Three more wins could earn Riverdale a national championship.
Photo by John Pratt
Riverdale is the new queen of the Xcellent 25 mountain, thanks to an upset loss for Mater Dei — but to stay there, Riverdale must win out this weekend.
Duncanville is extremely impressive as well, but with no significant out-of-state competition it's hard to really measure how good the Pantherettes are. Teams that want to win national titles need to play national schedules, as best they can, and Duncanville didn't do that. Maybe next year ...
View the girls basketball state playoff brackets
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 Girls Basketball Rankings Presented by the Army National Guard1. (2) Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 30-0Blackman was eliminated, so no more crosstown rematches — but Memphis Central and No. 11 Science Hill stand in the way of the state title, and a potential national championship.
2. (3) Duncanville (Texas) 42-0Make it eight Texas titles for the Pantherettes (two in a row), and a fourth unbeaten season. Only a lack of any significant regional or national wins keeps Duncanville out of the top spot — for now, at least.
3. (4) Windward (Los Angeles) 30-0Windward will likely face Troy, but not until March 12. Looming just over the horizon is previous No. 1 Mater Dei, which got upset in the Southern Section playoffs, but still was pulled up into the Open Division.
4. (13) St. John's (Washington, D.C.) 30-1The Cadets will try to finish a superb season by winning the very competitive Bishop Walsh Invitational this weekend.
5. (9) North Gwinnett (Suwanee, Ga.) 30-1North Cobb was 27-3, but North Gwinnett rolled, 57-40 — setting up Saturday's AAAAAA championship game against who else but archrival No. 23 Norcross. The teams have played three times, and North Gwinnett has won twice, but the stakes are a little higher in game number four.
