Northern California Girls Basketball Final Rankings
(Includes results for games through March 28)
(Previous ranking in parenthesis)
1. (1) St. Mary’s-Stockton 34-1
Young or not and a year away from their ultimate peak according to state-record winning Coach Tom Gonsalves, the Rams of 2015 left no doubt as to who is the best team in the Golden State this season after outplaying Mater Dei at just about every aspect of the game down the stretch, and overcoming a 57-54 deficit after three quarter to post a 76-69 victory in the CIF Open Division championship.
2. (2) Miramonte-Orinda 30-3
The Mats will be better next year but so will St. Mary’s. Sabrina Ionescu is currently the leading candidate for Cal-Hi Sports State Junior of the Year after winning sophomore honors last season. How good will the two-time USA Team member be next season? Pretty darn good.
3. (3) Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco 18-11
In two losses to top-ranked St. Mary’s no one played the Rams tougher than the Irish who lost by six in January and 70-65 in the NorCal Open semifinals. That solicited some emails from Irish faithful asking to move the girls up here past Miramonte and past everyone else to No. 2 in the state from their final No. 7 spot. Fans are never happy unless their team is No. 1 but with 11 losses where the Irish finished is more than respectable, its fantastic and a lot of it has to do with solid young coach LyRyan Russell.
4. (4) Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland 25-9
The Dragons finish fourth here but after smashing Brea-Olinda-Brea, 55-40 in the CIF Division III state championship, O’Dowd more than justified its No. 8 finish in the state. A lot of talent graduates with Asha Thomas off to Cal and Aisia Robertson to Kansas, but look for Myah Pace to explode as a junior next season.
5. (5) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 22-7
The Wildcats were the third NorCal team of three in a row in the state rankings after falling in at No. 9 behind their arch-rivals the Irish and O’Dowd like here. The No. 9 finish for SI was the best finish in the state rankings in school history.
6. (6) Pinewood-Los Altos Hills 24-4
It probably was tough for head coach Doc Scheppler to watch an Eastside Prep team his girls beat three times play for a Division V state title, but in the Open Division era that’s the way it works.
7. (9) Archbishop Mitty-San Jose 25-6
Just like in the state rankings where the CIF Division II state champions got a bump past NorCals Vanden and Eastside Prep, they jump them here as well after dismantling Keppel-Alhambra in the state title game. Look for current sophomore Heleyna Hill to make some big noise next season. She’s already the best player on the team and along with fellow sophomore Daniella Guglielmo led Mitty with 13-points apiece in the 53-31 victory over Keppel.
8. (7) Vanden-Fairfield 30-4
Despite falling behind Mitty here and in the state it was still a No. 13 finish in the state rankings and a best ever in school history, and a season that despite the loss to O’Dowd in the NorCal final made head coach Allison Johnson proud. “Yes Sir!” was her text about the school’s best-ever season. Look for current sophomore Julia Blackshell-Fair to be even better next season.
9. (8) Eastside Prep-East Palo Alto 25-6
The Panthers storybook season didn’t end the way affable head coach Donovan Blythe, whose story as a cancer survivor in the beginning of this group’s run three years ago, would have wanted, but they ran out of gas with only six girls and the long grind of the season and couldn’t match La Jolla Country Day in the CIF D5 state title game. Still, after all was said and done Eastside was state-ranked for the first time in school history and held on to finish ranked all the way till the end after snagging the No. 16 spot.
10. (10) McClatchy-Sacramento 27-7
The Sacramento Bee top team and top team from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section rally earned it on the court with a double-overtime nail-biting win over Serra-Gardena. The Lady Lions can’t move up here but in the state rankings they get a reward for their CIF Division I state championship victory was a one-spot bump for a No. 17 finish in the final pecking order.
11. (11) Modesto Christian-Modesto 27-5
The Crusaders hold tight here but jumped back into the final state rankings after snagging the No.19 spot.
12. (13) Salesian-Richmond 30-4
The Pride get credit for the overall body of work and are rewarded here with a one-spot bump but in the Cal-Hi sports rankings where the NorCal teams resumes got elevated with the St. Mary’s Open Division win they ended up grabbing the No. 20 and final spot.
13. (12) Dublin 28-4
The Gaels have to drop back behind Salesian since the win over Carondelet was minimized after the Dublin girls were soundly beaten by Mitty in the NorCal D2 title game.
14. (14) St. Mary’s-Berkeley 23-9
The Panthers had a lot of losses but they also had wins over Vanden, Clovis West-Fresno, Eastside Prep, Berkeley, and they took 1-of-3 from the Salesian team they fall in behind.
15. (15) Brookside Christian-Stockton 27-4
Brookside was overmatched in the CIF Division IV state championship loss to Sierra Canyon but the big news for next year is Washington-commit Aarion McDonald is back and may very well be the No. 2 returning player in Northern California behind Ionescu of Miramonte.
The rest
16. (17T) Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa 26-7
17. (17T) Piedmont 21-12
18. (16) Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills 27-5
19. (17T) Berkeley 23-10*
20. (20) Scotts Valley 25-6
21. (21) Carondelet-Concord 26-4
22. (22) Pittsburg 25-7
23. (23) Bradshaw Christian-Sacramento 23-10
24. (24) James Logan-Union City 25-6
25T. (25T) Presentation-San Jose 14-15
25T. (25T) Valley Christian-Dublin 31-4
Dropped out: None
On the Bubble
Acalanes-Lafayette 23-8, Antelope 27-3, Arcata 20-11, Central Valley-Shasta Lake 25-6, Clayton Valley-Concord 24-8, Davis 27-4, Del Oro-Loomis 24-7, Durham 24-4, Enterprise-Redding 22-6, Hillsdale-San Mateo 21-10, Kimball-Tracy 30-2, Lincoln-San Francisco 23-10, Lincoln-Stockton 23-5, Lowell-San Francisco 19-8, Menlo-Atherton 20-9, Menlo-Atherton-Atherton 24-7, Moreau Catholic-Hayward 20-10, North Salinas-Salinas 24-3, Notre Dame-Belmont 14-15, Oakland 23-7, Oakland Tech (Oakland) 21-9, Palo Alto 22-5, Patterson 27-5, Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove 22-7, Pleasant Valley-Chico 21-7, Rio Linda 26-7, Sacramento 18-10, Saint Francis-Mountain View 14-15, St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda 21-13, Shasta-Redding 22-7, University-San Francisco 24-10, Valley Christian-San Jose 14-14
