By Greg Murphy
Ventura College extended its COA-leading winning streak to 21 games to
remain the unanimous #1 choice of the COA/CCCWBCA Poll. Lassen College is
tied for having the most wins this season with 23 and takes the runner-up
spot. Contra Costa College also has 23 wins and is tied for 3rd with
Butte College. Los Angeles Valley College is #5 by a single point.
In Western State Conference's North Division, Ventura was idle on
Wednesday and defeated rival Oxnard College on Saturday, 84-33. Santa
Barbara moved into a tie for second place with Moorpark in a 15-point home
win between the two colleges. Santa Barbara moved one position upwards to
#21 while Moorpark fell five to #19. #22t Cuesta College swept Allan
Hancock and Los Angeles Pierce Colleges to remain in the race. In South
Division, LA Valley holds onto the lead by virtue of not having had a bye.
#8 College of the Canyons is behind by half a game after upsetting Valley
at home, 74-57. Much-improved Santa Monica College is tied with Canyons
after wins on Wednesday and Saturday.
Lassen and Butte share the lead of Golden Valley Conference after the
second week of play with 3-0 records. Lassen served College of the
Siskiyous their first loss to start the week, 80-71, while Butte doubled
Feather River College. Lassen pulled into a tie with Butte with a Lassen
win over Redwoods and a Butte bye on Saturday. Lassen is the
higher-ranked team, breaking their #3 tie with Butte of last week.
Bay Valley Conference divisions are led by Contra Costa and #11 Sierra
College with one game left in the first of two rounds. Sierra was nearly
upset by American River College on Friday, 61-54. Cosumnes River College
stayed in range of taking an automatic qualifier position after a mild
upset of Sacramento City College. #14 Santa Rosa moved into the North
Region's top 8 with a 71-68 score over #15 College of Marin in the North
Region COA Game of the Week.
South Coast Conference completed its first week of intradivision play
where #7 Mt. San Antonio and #9 Los Angeles Trade-Technical colleges share
the North Division lead at 2-0. #6 Cerritos College and unranked Los
Angeles Southwest College share the South Division lead with the same
record. The only game that was remotely close for the week was a 59-57
Compton Community College win at El Camino College.
#12 San Jose CIty College continues its commanding lead in Coast
Conference South Division. Monterey Peninsula College moved forward to be
the early favorite to finished second and take the other automatic
qualifying spot with wins over College of San Mateo and Cabrillo College.
For North Division, #20 Chabot College has a one-game lead over #18
Foothill College, the difference being their interdivision matches with
San Jose in interdivision play.
Santa Ana College leads Orange Empire Conference at 6-0, but is the
third-highest ranked team at #17. Fullerton College is the highest ranked
squad, yet is in second at 5-1. #16 Orange Coast College is running
fourth after dropping both of their games, including a 61-51 South Region
Game of the Week loss versus Fullerton, but is ranked second-highest.
Unranked Irvine Valley College nearly upset Santa Ana on Wednesday, 74-71,
which might help to explain the apparent scrambled nature of the rankings.
#25 San Diego Mesa College raced into the lead of Pacific Coast Conference
on Wednesday after defeating Southwestern by 8 and Palomar College
defeated Grossmont College. Despite only having three wins before PCC
play began, Southwestern found itself in a tie for second with Imperial
Valley from a 21-point win over Grossmont Friday night.
Merced College nearly lost its perfect record on Wednesday in Central
Valley Conference. College of the Sequoias fell a mere two points short
of the road upset, 52-50. Reedley College is a game and a half behind
with a pair of 9-point wins over Fresno City College and Taft College.
Antelope Valley College kept its nose above the Foothill Conference water.
Their closest game was 73-62 versus Cerro Coso College Saturday afternoon
to drive their FC record to 7-0. Chaffey and Rio Hondo Colleges sit a
loss behind them and 6-1 and 5-1 respectively.
In the North Region COA Game of the Week, #10 San Joaquin Delta College
will attempt to pull into a tie for first place in BVC Valley Division
with #11 Sierra College at home at 6:00 pm. #19 Moorpark tries to make up
for their loss to Santa Barbara with a home win over #1 Ventura on
Wednesday at 5:30 pm in the South Region COA Game of the Week.
