By Greg Murphy
Ventura College returns to being the unanimous #1 choice of the
COA/CCCWBCA voting panel in this week's poll. Fellow Western State
Conference member Los Angeles Valley College chimes at #2. A pair of
Golden Valley Conference colleges take the next two spots with Lassen and
Butte. Contra Costa College ties Butte in 4th position to round out the
top five.
Ventura opened WSC play with #17 Cuesta College and showed that they might
cruise through conference play with a 64-40 win. #16 Moorpark College
might have something to say about that with a 13-point win over a
respectable Oxnard College squad on Wednesday. In South Division, LA
Valley and #8 College of the Canyons share the lead with 2-0 records after
sweeping the week.
The "second season" also began for Bay Valley Conference last week. #10
San Joaquin Delta College and #13 Sierra College met in a tough Valley
Division opener on Tuesday in the North Region Game of the Week. Sierra
upset Delta 75-70 to take the eventual outright division lead, but could
not overtake them in the polls. Delta regrouped to overcome then-ranked
#24 Sacramento City College on Friday, 86-72, while Sierra's defense took
care of Cosumnes River College 64-48. In Bay Division, Solano Community
College upset #12 College of Marin, 73-61, to give #15 Santa Rosa Junior
College a half-game lead after Contra Costa took a bye on Friday.
The South Region Game of the Week was an exciting one as #21 Santa Ana
College narrowly avoided an upset of its own by a score of 66-64 in an
Orange Empire Conference opener. OEC favorite #11 Orange Coast could not
avoid the upset flu at Irvine Valley College in a Friday night contest.
Irvine Valley won 76-67. Santa Ana and #14 Fullerton College share a 2-0
lead through the weekend.
Central Valley Conference also began its slate. Despite having a record
below .500, Merced College found itself in the lead after the first week
of play with wins over Modesto Junior College and Taft College. Fresno
City College and Reedley College are undefeated in CVC play at 1-0, but
are half a game behind after taking a bye.
Foothill Conference has been going strong since January 2. Chaffey and
Antelope Valley College shared 3-0 records and the lead after Saturday's
matches. An Antelope Valley 63-58 win over Rio Hondo on Saturday
prevented RHC from taking the lead at 4-0.
Coast Conference includes interdivision games in their conference records
this season. Division play begins next week. Chabot College gained more
believers Friday after traveling to #18 San Jose City College and winning
48-47. They were rewarded with a #24 entry on the state poll. Both teams
lead their divisions, although Gavilan College is tied with Chabot at 4-0
and has yet to meet South Division leader San Jose.
South Coast Conference interdivision games do not count on their
conference records. #7 Cerritos College can be thankful for that after
dropping a game to Pasadena City College, 79-67. #6 Mt. San Antonio has
an easy week with wins over El Camino and Los Angeles Southwest colleges.
Los Angeles Trade-Technical gained the #9 spot after two wins of its own.
Butte College traveled to Reedley College to fill a gap in their schedule
before Golden Valley Conference begins. Offense-minded Reedley took full
advantage of the situation and came away with their biggest win in years,
knocking Butte from #2 to a tie for 4th in the state. Most of the rest of
GVC headed to the warmer climate of San Diego County to take on Pacific
Coast Conference teams who begin their conference schedule this weekend.
Shasta College entered the top 20 after sweeping the weekend over #25 San
Diego Mesa, Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges. Palomar College came a hair
from a slowdown upset of Lassen College, the North Region's #1 team,
48-46.
#4t Contra Costa will try to put space between themselves and #12 Marin in
a Friday night road game at 6:00 PM in the North Region Game of the Week.
#6 Mt. San Antonio and #7 Cerritos makes the short trip to Mt. San Antonio
on January 16 in a match that could have huge playoff seeding
implications. Tip-off is at 5:30 PM in the South Region Game of the Week.
