There was some chaos thrown into the mix with the announcement last Tuesday that Carondelet asked to be removed from the state tournament due to an off-campus incident the school deemed worthy of the team's removal.
“Their school asked to be removed from the tournament and we support their decision,” said CIF Media Relations Officer Rebecca Brutlag.
As for the teams remaining there is little doubt it likely will boil down to everything including national No. 1 Archbishop Mitty and state No. 2 and national No. 5 St. Mary’s-Stockton.
Pinewood gave Mitty its best shot and had the biggest lead anyone has had on the Monarchs this season when they bolted to a 22-12 lead after the first quarter that had the Pinewood faithful delirious with joy. It quickly turned to dismay and reality when the size, speed and defensive pressure of Mitty was more than they could handle in the 76-62 loss in the Central Coast Section Open title game.
Pinewood upset St. Mary’s two years ago when the Rams were No. 1 in the nation and they had their shot at No. 1 already, and likely will get a shot at St. Mary’s again, but it really all goes back to the two national elite teams.
As things play out and if it is a rematch of the Nike TOC 57-50 victory by Mitty, it could be a real thriller. University of San Diego-bound 6-2 post Nicole Blakes, who went down in the final West Catholic Athletic League game in February with a knee injury that ended her high school career, had 20 points and five rebounds in the game.
What this may all come down to is which Cal-Hi Sports Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year top candidate can deliver the goods, sophomore sensation Haley Jones of Mitty or Baylor-bound senior Aquira DeCosta of St. Mary’s, or maybe it might be the supporting cast. Either way we see Mitty facing St. Mary’s and with it being at Leavey Center at Santa Clara University look for a lot of Mitty faithful packing the house.
Here is a look at the Friday night 7 pm matchups.
#1 Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (27-0) hosting #8 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (19-10)
Talking to Mitty Coach Sue Phillips she is concerned about the athleticism and improvement since the start of the season of a Bishop O’Dowd team the Caravan saw them crush in Oakland, 86-52 to open the season, and also 78-56 at the West Coast Jamboree. The Monarchs are obviously a big favorite even with Ania McNicholas replacing Nicole Blakes in the starting lineup. All McNicholas did against Pinewood was lead Mitty with 21 points, including nine a pivotal second quarter that saw the Monarchs outscore Pinewood 25-5. To their credit O’Dowd has played everyone tough and its only losses to teams that aren’t state-ranked is to St. Ignatius and previously ranked La Jolla Country Day. They took SoCal Open top seed Windward to overtime before falling 77-71 at their MLK event and despite struggling at the Nike TOC they did have a win over a Florida No. 4 Montverde Academy that went on to beat SoCal Open No. 7 seed Mater Dei. It should be an entertaining game but a win by O’Dowd would match the upset of two years ago when Pinewood beat St. Mary’s
#2 St. Mary’s (26-2) hosting #7 Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (27-5)
The two teams didn’t meet this season, but last season, when St. Mary’s arguably wasn’t quite as good as this season, and Newman was better with size to go with shooting, and certainly an Open Division team whereas this season their credentials are shaky, it was St. Mary’s winning 74-55 at the Cardinal Newman Classic, and then going down 53-46 at home in the rematch and that could give Newman some hope for this year's matchup. The size, speed and athleticism of St. Mary’s with Baylor-bound 6-2 Aquira DeCosta, Florida-bound guard Ari Johnson, and Princeton-committed Neenah Young, plus others, will likely present more than the rag-tag, three-point shooting Cardinals can overcome. However, anything is possible, and if senior star Maiya Flores can live through losing her house in the Santa Rosa fires, the school half burning down causing the team to have to play 20 games on the road and disperse to other parish schools, a basketball game is just child’s play. Newman played its heart out in losing 50-46 in the North Coast Section Division III title game, but St. Mary’s had a 68-54 win at Salesian in a rough and tumble contest.
#3 Pinewood (25-2) Bye
For whatever reason, the administration at Carondelet was not able to inform the CIF in time so they could re-seed the brackets, which likely would have meant bringing in a team at the very bottom and bumping everyone up a spot. That would have meant Division I top-seeded Presentation-San Jose would have come up and the Panthers faithful are glad that did not happen. Instead Coach Doc Scheppler and his girls have to cool their heels with a bye and await the Newman at St. Mary’s winner. Scheppler bemoaned the fact to everyone and anyone that would listen, he wasn’t pleased with not having a game. After listening and agreeing it would have been better to “rectify the situation” prior to the seeding meeting we finally had to tell him the bad news is the Panthers don’t have a game, but the good news is they don’t have a game. “I get that part of it,” was his response. The bottom line is at this point Pinewood is into the semifinals and that’s all that counts. The rest is water under the bridge,
#4 Folsom (27-4) hosting #5 Salesian (26-5)
Like a No. 4 and No. 5 always should be this could very well be the best of the three NorCal Open games on Friday night. The Bulldogs own a 62-57 victory over Salesian at the West Coast Jamboree. At the time it was considered an upset because Salesian was highly ranked and Folsom was still proving itself as belonging with the state’s elite teams. She was already well known in the girls basketball world but in the Salesian game Folsom’s Cal-bound McKenzie Forbes came up big-time and was everything as advertised. The 6-0 wing and daughter of former Harlem Globetrotter and current Folsom assistant Sterling “Smooth” Forbes was pretty smooth herself, and with some Globetrotter-like moves went for 30 points with seven rebounds and three steals. Other players that could have an impact on the game are 6-6 UCLA-bound post Shayley Harris, and flashy freshman guard Charity Gallegos. Salesian’s 6-5 junior post Angel Jackson worked hard against Folsom for 14 points and 15 rebounds with three blocks. Junior Makayla Edwards and senior Taimane Lesa-Hardee also played well but the beat Folsom and stop Forbes will take Salesian’s best game of the year, meaning their offense will have to match their usual defensive intensity for them to have a chance.