SBLive's L.A. City Section girls basketball rankings: No. 1 Westchester, No. 9 Poly, No. 12 San Pedro make history
History was made on Saturday at Pasadena City College. Westchester won its first ever Open Division title, Sun Valley Poly won its first LACS title of any kind (Division 1), and San Pedro, the Division 2 champion, earned its first title in 37 years.
Here are SBLive's L.A. City Section girls basketball rankings for the week of Feb. 27 - March 5. The rankings are released every Monday throughout the season.
1. Westchester (29-1 – 1st)
For the first time ever, Westchester is the LACS Open Division champion. Mariah Blake led the way with 20 points as the Lady Comets defeated Granada Hills Charter 51-44. They open the state playoffs at home against another champion, reigning back-to-back Southern Section champion (Divisions 2-AA and 1) Orange Lutheran.
2. Granada Hills Charter (25-4 – 2nd)
After coming up just short in the Open Division finals, the Highlanders look to upset a higher-seeded Southern Section team for the second straight regional playoffs. This time as the 11th seed, they look to knock off 6th seed and CIFSS Open Division selection Bishop Montgomery. Marianne Boco led all scorers with 29 points in their championship loss against Westchester.
3. Crenshaw (20-7 – 3rd)
The 'Shaw is back in action on Tuesday at Rancho Christian in the Southern Region Division II playoffs. Crenshaw is the underdog here as the 13th seed on the road against a No. 4 seed, but a victory should be within grasp in what should be a great game.
4. King/Drew (16-14 – 4th)
While the Golden Eagles are the heavy underdog in SoCal Division II on Tuesday at Leuzinger, they might have the right combination of speed and size to match up well with the CIFSS 2-A finalist. If they can pull off the upset, then there's no one in that bracket they can't beat.
5. Palisades (14-15 – 6th)
After falling to Crenshaw in the quarterfinals, Palisades beat Taft on Wednesday in a game that wasn't exactly part of the regular season nor the postseason but still counted as an official contest. That was enough for the Dolphins to move back into the top five. Now they're back in Division III, where one could say they've done pretty well in recent years. They open up against El Dorado.
6. Birmingham (17-12 – 5th)
As the last seed in Division II, Birmingham opens up with a trip to the border to face Bonita Vista.
7. Taft (18-11 – 7th)
While a loss to Palisades between playoff weeks didn't help the Toreadors' stock, it also didn't really hurt, and it should help keep them sharp. They earned a home game in Division III against Mark Keppel in a battle of highly contrasting styles.
8. San Fernando (24-4 – 8th)
San Fernando is in a tough spot here. It starts the Division III playoffs at Redondo Union, the No. 2 seed and a less-than-ideal matchup as 5-10 star center Samantha Maldonado will clash with another star post in 6-4 Ella Zimmerman.
9. Sun Valley Poly (22-5 – 9th)
In one of the gutsiest performances in recent City Section history, the Parrots won their first ever section title in a 67-64 victory over LACES on Saturday. With Poly already missing Heart Lising, a 15 PPG scorer and the team leader in assists and steals, Hannah Lising erupted for 35 points before fouling out with 94 seconds left in the game – and Poly still won in overtime.
10. Los Angeles CES (17-14 – 10th)
Despite suffering a brutal loss in the D1 finals, LACES did enough to make the regional Division IV playoffs, where it'll be one of the more dangerous teams as an eighth seed. Its first test is No. 9 Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary.
11. Hamilton (20-9 – 11th)
While a semifinals appearance in D1 doesn't guarantee a regional playoff birth, Hamilton deserved one and got one. The Lady Yankees could potentially go on a cinderella run as the 15th seed in Division IV, and start by heading to No. 2 Chino.
12. San Pedro (21-8 – Unranked)
The Division 1 championship wasn't the only dramatic overtime victory last week. Despite being the top seed in Division 2, San Pedro was considered a heavy underdog by some against Chatsworth, but it took down the Chancellors 52-51 in OT behind Noelani Raigans' 17 points, 6 assists, and 6 steals. Shalia Coleman had 17 points as well as the Pirates won their first section title since 1986, and are now arguably the team to beat in Southern Region Division V.
13. Chatsworth (16-16 – 12th)
The season ended painfully on Friday for the Chancellors. They came up just barely short against San Pedro and were not awarded a state playoff birth.
14. El Camino Real (8-21 – 13th)
Although its record wasn't pretty, Elco finishes in the top 15 for going 1-1 against Chatsworth and 2-0 against Cleveland.
15. Cleveland (11-18 – 14th)
Cleveland finishes the season in the top 15 thanks to its playoff upset of Eagle Rock.
ON THE BUBBLE:
Eagle Rock
