Pasadena Purloins Preeminent Poll Position

[ December 6, 2004 Poll ]

The CCCWBCA State Poll had Mt. San Antonio College and Pasadena City College in the top two respective spots since the January 12 poll. This week, the PCC Panthers ended the trend and moved to Number One. Mt. San Antonio dropped to fourth after holding the top since the November 10,
2003 poll. Riverside Community College is in second marking the first time in nearly 11 months that a team from outside South Coast Conference North Division cracked the top two. San Joaquin Delta College made a big move to get third. Antelope Valley College rounds out the top five.

Pasadena played once last week. The South Region Game of the Week was held at #12 Fullerton College. Pasadena kept its undefeated season intact in its closest score of the young season. The difference was 19 points in a 74-55 win for the Panthers Wednesday evening. Then, all they could do was sit and wait to see what happened in Visalia.

What happened in Visalia was the Gilcrest Invitational hosted by College of the Sequoias, arguably the biggest tournament of the regular season and the CCCWBCA Tournament of the Week. Half of the undefeated teams and six of the top ten were entered in the 16-team event. There were seven upsets during the weekend and the first was in the opening round, #7 San Joaquin Delta 63, #1 Mt. San Antonio 60. Mt. SAC was upset again in the third round by #10 San Jose, 74-68, to suffer elimination. Antelope Valley was the only other team that threatened to move to #1, but a loss to #5 Riverside in the second round ended that hope.

Riverside eased past Delta to reach the championship game. 19th-ranked Ventura College showed marked improvement with consecutive wins over #17 Cerritos and previously-undefeated Sequoias to meet Riverside for the title. RCC won the title 76-57, led by MVP Shavonne Smith. Delta handed Sequoias its second loss in as many days although Sequoias took it to the final possession. Antelope Valley held Cerritos at bay to take fifth.
The consolation championship went to San Jose with a 3-point upset over #6 L.A. Valley.

Foothill College was the only ranked team (#11) in its half of the Shasta College tourney and used it to their advantage to take the title in a
65-57 win over #20 Sierra College. Armina Jusufagic took MVP honors for the Owls. Santa Rosa defeated host Shasta to take third after downing #3 Lassen 63-60 in the first round and dropping a 14-point loss to Sierra in the semifinals. Foothill jumped to the sixth spot in this week's poll and Lassen fell into a tie for eighth.

Three tournaments had only one ranked team and those teams won the championships. At Hartnell College, #13 Butte emerged as the final undefeated college in North Region after escaping Glendale Community College in the final by a score of 82-79. Shannae Blake earned MVP status as she marched her #16 Chaffey College squad past Citrus in overtime.
Chaffey won the Cuesta College tourney with the 70-66 triumph. Cypress College was #18 when their tournament began and ended it with a win over previously undefeated Porterville, 90-64.

Contra Costa College had an unusual year with no state-ranked teams in their 8-team event. City College of San Francisco and Contra Costa tipped-off in the championship game with two losses. The third loss went to CCSF with a 68-64 nod to the hosts. Marqueta Green of Contra Costa was named MVP.

In the North Region Game of the Week, Solano Community College struggled against #14 Reedley College on Tuesday. Despite the 71-48 win, Reedley still dropped to #18 as voters rewarded Chaffey and Cypress for their tournament championships plus Ventura and Sequoias for their high finishes at the Gilcrest.

In this week's action, Southwestern at Rio Hondo will attempt to get its second with of the season. They host Southwestern College (3-3) Tuesday at 6:00 pm in the South Region Game of the Week. An hour earlier is the North Region counterpart as Monterey Peninsula, also 3-3, will challenge
4-1 Mission at home.

The Tournament of the Week was close, but goes to San Joaquin Delta College. The Thursday-Saturday tourney will include #3 Delta, #6 Foothill, #7 San Jose and undefeated #11 Butte.

Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu