Antelope Valley College Achieves New Height

[ January 10, 2005 Poll ]

Antelope Valley earned the highest ranking in the 23 years of its program as they take the number two position underneath undefeated state leader, Pasadena City College. Both teams share the lead for most wins this season with 16. Riverside Community College fell to third. Mt. San Antonio College climbed a rung to take #4. Santa Rosa Junior College is the only northern squad in the top five, but Lassen College retook first in North Region voting.

In South Coast Conference interdivision games, 18th-ranked El Camino College gave Pasadena their slimmest winning margin of the year on Wednesday, 57-47. Pasadena had an easier time with Los Angeles Southwest College on Friday with a 56-point victory. El Camino took East L.A.
College by 12 on the same night. Compton Community College swept the week with wins over L.A. Southwest and Long Beach City College. Mt. San Antonio nearly doubled Los Angeles Harbor College in their sole game.

The two ranked colleges in Foothill Conference opened with easy wins on Wednesday to set up Saturday's showdown. Antelope Valley asserted their higher ranking to the tune of an 84-66 win at #14 Chaffey College in the South Region Game of the Week. The rematch is February 2 in Lancaster.
College of the Desert leads the standings as they got an early start. A pair of wins against Rio Hondo College and Victor Valley Community College have the Roadrunners at 3-0, half a game ahead of Antelope Valley.

Fullerton College had the week's toughest schedule as they opened Orange Empire Conference with #8 Cypress College and #2 Riverside. The Hornets also had the state's best week, buzzing through their opponents for the sweep. Fullerton won 65-63 over Cypress and 77-72 at Riverside. Orange Coast College is tied for the conference lead at 2-0 after defeating Saddleback and Santa Ana colleges.

Bay Valley Conference play also began. In Bay Division, Santa Rosa and
#15 Contra Costa College share a 2-0 lead as each earned a pair of victories. They both defeated Merritt College. Mendocino fell victim to Santa Rosa and Contra Costa overcame Solano Community College by a dozen.
Valley Division began with the North Region Game of the Week. It took overtime for Sierra College to win at home, 83-75, and upset San Joaquin Delta College. After taking American River College on Friday, Sierra elevated to a tie for #16 and Delta dipped a spot to #11. Sacramento City College co-leads with Sierra after defeating Napa Valley College 66-47 and Yuba College 61-50. Sacramento can take the solo lead Tuesday night as Sierra has a bye, but Sierra hosts the Panthers on Friday.

Golden Valley Conference and Pacific Coast Conference revived their January series in the southern warmth, or rain as it were. With one score outstanding, the ten reported contests were split 5-5. Lassen had the most successful trip with three notches in their win belt over Southwestern College, a 73-71 near-upset by Imperial Valley College on neutral ground, and Palomar College. Butte College was upset 53-51 by San Diego Mesa College and fell off the state rankings.

Coast Conference interdivisionals continued last week. The revolving door for top spot in North Region had been stuck on San Jose for three weeks.
City College of San Francisco gave the door a good, hard kick and got it moving with a 61-48 home upset on Saturday night. San Francisco and Foothill College won contests over Ohlone College earlier in the week.
Foothill remains #7. On Tuesday, San Jose scored 76 to De Anza's 63.
Mission College won both of its games and inches closer to regaining a state ranking, 11th in North Region.

Central Valley Conference got underway on Wednesday. Porterville College and Reedley College are the ranked teams and favorites. Reedley made it by College of the Sequoias 69-57 and Porterville had a bye. On Saturday, Porterville had its own 12-point margin over Taft College. Merced College drove to Reedley and upset the Tigers 65-60. They joined Fresno City College, who upset Sequoias with another 12-point difference, at 2-0 atop CVC standings. #13 Porterville is a half game behind at 1-0. Reedley fell three in the rankings to #19.

The top ten are unusually devoid of Western State Conference colleges as their division play began. Ventura College is the highest-ranked at #13 after a pair of wins against Moorpark College, 74-55, and 72-47 over Cuesta College. Santa Barbara City College shares first place in North Division with a 7-point win over county-rival Allan Hancock College and a closer 48-44 triumph against Oxnard College. Down South, Canyons is ranked in a tie for 16th. After struggling to a 72-62 win against West Los Angeles College, they ran by Los Angeles Valley College 99-74. Citrus College is also 2-0 in the division and ranked #20 after competitive wins of 73-68 versus Bakersfield College and 69-58 over West L.A.

In the South Region Game of the Week, #3 Riverside hosts #10 Cypress with the winner staying in range of the same night's Fullerton-Orange Coast winner. The contest begins Wednesday at 7:30 pm. The northern counterpart could be a determinant for who gets home court advantage throughout regionals. #7 Foothill challenges #8 San Jose on Saturday at 7:00 pm.

Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu