Metro basketball teams thrive in postseason
My left leg is planted firmly as I pivot through the busy landscape of postseason basketball.
O’Dowd does it: Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland’s 75-71 North Coast Section Division 2 girls title win over Miramonte-Orinda at St. Mary’s College was one of the best, most evenly matched girls games I’ve seen in years.
Jada Holland, a relentless 5-foot-6 junior guard, scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, lifting her team from a 10-point deficit late in the third. Teammate Zakiya
Mahoney, a strong 5-9 interior player, had 22 points and carried her team to early leads of 8-2 and 18-9.
Miramonte, behind 5-5 point guard Clair Steele (19 points), Erin Tarasow (14) and Amerika De Los Santos (10), played fearlessly and freely. The Matadors (25-5), under coach Kelly
Sopak, were after their fifth straight NCS crown.
Malik McCord, O’Dowd’s ninth-year coach, toughened his team by playing one of the hardest schedules in the state, resulting in a 4-7 start. They improved to 19-10 on Saturday.
“I’ve never had a closer team, or one improve so much,” he said. That included the state Open Division title team of 2013.
Even though they’re seeded fourth, I’m picking Miramonte’s girls to win the NorCal D1 title.
Metro powerhouses: With six of the eight teams in the Open Division, and the top four seeds in D1, the Metro region continues to prove itself one of the national hotbeds for girls basketball. Bellarmine coach Patrick
Schneider was gracious after Sunday’s meeting, even though his squad was seeded sixth in the Open. Bellarmine (24-3), featuring West Catholic Athletic League Player of the Year Jake Wojcik and first-teamer Kendall Stubblefield, has won NorCal’s toughest league outright the past two years. For the second straight year, the Bells will be on the road, facing Modesto Christian.
Bellarmine won three straight games in the Central Coast Section Open Division against WCAL squads, including Mitty 66-58 in the final.
1 Of the 16 teams selected in the boys D1 tournament, 12 are in The Chronicle’s rankings, including top two seeds HeritageBrentwood and Las LomasWalnut Creek. My pick to win? A sleeper: seventh-seeded Dublin.
1 More boys predicted champions: Salesian-Richmond (Open) and Mission (D3).
1 More girls predicted champions: Mitty (Open) and Campolindo-Moraga (D3). One and only: De La SalleConcord senior Peyton
Omania was the only Metro wrestler to leave Bakersfield with a state title, taking the 145-pound crown following a 3-2 win over Selma senior Tony
Mendoza. The Michigan State signee finished his career with three NCS crowns and three state medals. Clovis heavyweight Seth
Nevills became just the third wrestler in the 46-year history of the state meet to win his fourth straight title. He pinned Vacaville’s Jake Levengood in 1:11 in the final.
Soccer pairings: St. Ignatius, coming off its second straight CCS and WCAL titles, is seeded fourth and will host a firstround Division I match Tuesday. The first CIF Northern California playoff pairings were announced Sunday.
The Wildcats (16-1-5) — 35-1-5 over two seasons — host fifthseeded Marin Academy-San Rafael (13-1-4) at 3 p.m. The winner plays the winner of Los Gatos (17-1-2) at top-seeded Folsom (22-0-4) on Thursday. NorCal champions in four boys and four girls divisions will be crowned Saturday. Monte VistaDanville (22-1-1) is the top seed in the Division 1 girls event.
Other San Francisco teams at NorCals are University boys (D3), Leadership boys (D4), Sacred Heart Cathedral girls (D3) and Lowell girls (D4).