By Greg Murphy
The final undefeated colleges lost last week as Ventura College won the
prestigious Gilcrest Invitation and reclaimed the #1 position in this
week's COA/CCCWBCA State Poll. Mt. San Antonio remains at #2 after losing
the second Mt. SAC-Ventura game of the young season, 64-55, for the
tournament championship. They have now split two games. Lassen moves up
a notch to #3 and claims five first-place votes, as many as Ventura. Last
week's polltopper, Los Angeles Valley, drops to fourth after being upset
twice at Gilcrest. College of Marin rounds out the top five.
San Jose was the favorite in their mini-bracket at Gilcrest, but was
two-and-out after losses to Canyons and San Joaquin Delta colleges. Delta
went on to take the consolation title and the #8 ranking. #11 Canyons was
eliminated in the fifth-place semifinals by LA Valley. Host College of
the Sequoias lept into the state rankings at #19 after upsetting LA Valley
for fifth place. #7 Cerritos College, who sent Canyons into the 5th place
bracket, took third place overall. The MVP for the 2nd-straight year was
sophomore Monique Taylor of Ventura College, a 5'6" guard out of Channel
Islands High School in Oxnard.
#5 College of Marin went into Sunday's championship game of Shasta
College's tournament as the final undefeated team in California, but #3
Lassen came out on top in a 52-51 squeaker. Lassen was rewarded with the
top ranking in North Region. College of the Redwoods upset previously
undefeated Santa Rosa Junior College and finished fourth. Sierra College
was twice-upset by Marin and unranked Foothill, dropping to #1 in the
poll.
#6 Contra Costa College lost on its home court to previously unranked
Chabot College (#16), but took third place in their tournament. Chabot
pulled off another upset in the championship game with a 65-69 win over
previously unbeaten College of the Siskiyous and vaulted into the state
poll at #16, the highest new entry. Merritt College took the consolation
side.
At Cuesta College, Chaffey sent tourney-favorite Orange Coast to the 3rd
place game. They erased a 13-point deficit late in the title match, but
Cuesta's shots fell as they took their own tourney, 65-62. Orange Coast
finished in third and yet rose four spots to #10 in this week's poll. The
MVP award was given to Cuesta's Lindsay Vollmer, a 5'7" guard from
Petaluma.
Los Angeles Trade-Technical and Butte entered tournaments over the weekend
as the only ranked teams and both came away with trophies. At Hartnell
College, #14 Butte College had little trouble taking the tourney title
with no college coming within 15 points. Cosumnes River edged past a
recharged Modesto Junior College for third place. College of San Mateo
nabbed the consolation bracket with a hard-fought 61-58 win over Reedley
College.
Pasadena hosted its unusual midweek tournament and won the championship
with a huge upset over a then-ranked #17 Irvine Valley College, 72-55.
Irvine Valley fell to #25. College of the Desert evened its record at 4-4
after defeating Long Beach City College for third place. Long Beach sent
San Bernardino Valley College to the consolation bracket where SBVC went
2-0 to take that title.
LA Trade-Technical didn't have quite an easy time of it, but managed to
avoid upset-minded Palomar, 61-56. Host Cypress also lost to Trade-Tech
by five, but took third with a huge win over Porterville. West Los
Angeles College won the consolation championship.
Rio Hondo traveled to Northeastern Junior College in Colorado and lost
both games in their round-robin tourney. They came close to upsetting
NJC, 65-60.
Cuesta lost to Canyons early in the week, 68-60, last week's South Region
Game of the Week, but still continues its upward movement in the poll,
rising six spots to #17. For North Region, #12 Sierra College defeated
Reedley College, 79-47. Reedley fell off the state poll.
The Tournament of the Week is hosted by Moorpark College. #1 Ventura, #2
Mt. San Antonio, and #4 LA Valley are entered, all ranked #1 at some point
this season. #20 Fullerton and #21 Santa Ana look to surprise the big
three.
Saturday contains the North and South Games of the Week. #9 Siskiyous
travels to #14 Chabot in an attempt to reverse the result of the Contra
Costa championship game at 3:00 pm. Down south, Pasadena could make the
state rankings with a home upset over #11 Canyons at 7:00 pm.
