Last Sunday afternoon a group of 12 teams from the area, who qualified for the playoffs, found out what their road to championship weekend on Feb. 25 will look like.
Rancho Christian is the area’s only top seeded team, earning a No. 1 seed in Division 2A. Their playoff journey starts against Norco in first-round action. Norco is an at-large selection from the Big VIII League who reached the quarterfinals a season ago. The Eagles were champions of the Ivy League this season, which was also their first season with the Raincross Conference.
Area league winners include: Ivy: Rancho Christian; Mountain Pass: Liberty; Southwestern: Great Oak, Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Valley; South Valley: Santa Rosa Academy; Sunbelt: Temescal Canyon.
Here is a complete list of the first-round matchups. (All games are scheduled for 7 p.m.)
DIVISION 1
No. 4 JSerra at Great Oak
DIVISION 2AA
No. 11 Crespi at Vista Murrieta
Murrieta Valley at No. 12 Linfield Christian
DIVISION 2A
Norco at No. 1 Rancho Christian
DIVISION 3A
Yorba Linda at No. 5 Temescal Canyon
Murrieta Mesa at No. 4 Valley Torah
DIVISION 4AA
Hacienda Heights/Wilson at Santa Rosa Academy
DIVISION 4A
No. 15 Lakeside at Yucca Valley
San Bernardino at Liberty
DIVISION 5AA
Temecula Prep at Calvary Chapel Downey
DIVISION 5A
Cornerstone Christian at No. 6 San Gorgonio
Here is the remainder of the playoff calendar:
Second round: Friday. Feb. 10
Quarterfinals: Tuesday, Feb. 14
Semifinals: Friday, Feb. 17
Finals: Friday, Feb. 24 or Saturday, Feb. 25
In the Murrieta Valley at Linfield Christian game, Nighthawks coach Brian Weathers returns to one of his previous head coaching stops before taking over at his high school alma mater. If Murrieta Valley defeats Linfield Christian and ends up hosting that game it will be played at an alternate venue. Nighthawk Gym is being used as a host site for the CIF-SS Southern Division Individual Boys Wrestling Championships this weekend and is unavailable.
CIF-SS Girls’ Basketball Playoffs
The Rancho Christian Eagles and the Great Oak Wolfpack will lead the area teams into the playoffs as nine teams moved into the postseason, which started earlier this week with wildcard games if necessary, and first round matchups that began on Thursday.
Rancho Christian, the Ivy League champion, earned a No. 1 seed in Division 3A while Southwestern League co-champion Great Oak earned a No. 3 seed in the same division. For the Wolfpack there has been a rapid turnaround under second year head coach Jared Curtiss who came over from Murrieta Mesa, where he was an assistant, after the spring 2021 season.
Last season (2021-2022) the Wolfpack went 14-7 overall and 5-5 in Southwestern League play, receiving a playoff berth for the first time since 2018-2019 when they earned runner-up honors, but fell to Orange Lutheran in the first round. This year’s league championship is Great Oak’s first since the 2016-2017 season and their 20 regular season wins is the program’s highest total since 2018-2019.
“I knew there were pieces here from my time as an assistant at Murrieta Mesa and thought we had a chance to mold a high caliber culture that we had in my teams back home in Oregon,” Curtiss said. “Our students’ version of hard work wasn’t the same as ours but we held kids to the standards of hard work and collective responsibility and we’re seeing that pay off. Our captains, especially the seniors in Payton and Kimber, will do a great job of making sure we don’t get caught looking too far ahead and keep everyone focused on what’s in front of us.”
Curtiss’ leading scorer is senior guard Alyssa Schuetze who averaged 12.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG while shooting 40% from the field and just under 30% from the three-point line. His daughter Payton runs the point and averages 6.5 PPG with an impressive 6.2 APG (assists).
Meanwhile, 3.4 miles up the road at Rancho Christian, Aalyiah Stanton does a little bit of everything for the Eagles averaging 30.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.2 APG and 3.8 SPG.
Area league champions include, Arrowhead League: California Lutheran; Inland Valley League: Orange Vista; Ivy League: Rancho Christian; Southwestern: Great Oak and Vista Murrieta.
The pairings and schedule for the CIF Southern Section girls’ basketball playoffs.
(Games scheduled for 7 p.m. but subject to change)
OPEN DIVISION
No local teams
DIVISION 1
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Marlborough at Vista Murrieta
DIVISION 2AA
No local teams
DIVISION 2A
No local teams
DIVISION 3AA
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Heritage at Northwood
Murrieta Valley at Yorba Linda
DIVISION 3A
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Rancho Christian, bye
South Torrance at Temescal Canyon
CSDR at Great Oak
DIVISION 4AA
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Elsinore at Buena Park
La Habra at San Jacinto Valley Academy
DIVISION 4A
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Yeshiva at Orange Vista
Bethel Christian at California Lutheran
Banning at San Jacinto
DIVISION 5AA
No local teams
DIVISION 5A
Wild-card games
E: at Tahquitz – 57, Adelanto – 38
G: Santa Rosa Academy – 37, Redlands Adventist – 31
J: Nuview Bridge – 41, Pomona Catholic – 30
First round, Thursday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m.
Winner WC E at Lake Arrowhead Christian
Winner WC G at Riverside Prep
Bloomington at West Valley
PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Second round (Div. 1-5A): Feb. 11, 7 p.m.
Quarterfinals (Div. 1-5A): Feb. 15, 7 p.m.
Semifinals (Div. 1-5A): Feb. 18, 7 p.m.
Championship games: Feb. 24-25 (various locations)
Please email socaltrekkie@gmail.com or sports@reedermedia.com if there are any changes in times, dates and/or sites.
