For the second consecutive season, two Orange County girls basketball teams were selected to play in the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs.
Top-ranked Mater Dei (25-1) drew the division’s No. 1 overall seed, just as it did a season ago. The Monarchs will be joined by Brea Olinda (22-3), who were seeded ninth in the 16-team bracket. (See the pairings.)
“It’s a very tough, very competitive bracket,” Ladycats coach Jeff Sink said after pairings were released Friday afternoon. “CIF stayed true to their word and took the top 16 teams. So it’s one unbelievable bracket.”
Mater Dei will open up against 16th-seeded J.W. North of Riverside (17-7) next Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Brea will hit the road that same night to take on No. 8 Centennial of Corona (23-5), a team it defeated in December, 57-50, in the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Opening-round wins by the Monarchs and Ladycats would set up a showdown between them in the second round on Feb. 28.
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“They’re an athletic and well-coached team,” Sink said of the Huskies, his team’s first-round opponent. “If we get beyond that game, we’ll be very fortunate. And if we do see Mater Dei, that would be a fun game to play in, especially for all the O.C. basketball fans. Mater Dei’s an unbelievable program.”
Prior to Friday, it was unknown whether the Open Division bracket would consist of 12 or 16 teams. With a dozen squads in last year’s field, Mater Dei received an opening-round bye, advancing straight to the second round. The addition of four teams this go-round eliminates the byes, something Monarchs coach Kevin Kiernan was hoping for before the field was even announced.
“Our hope from the Open Division was to get a full bracket,” Kiernan said. “We didn’t play for two weeks last year after our last league game, and we didn’t really know how to peak with the time off. Just couldn’t get a rhythm going.”
The Monarchs fell to second-seeded Windward of Los Angeles in the Open Division championship, 61-46, and followed that up 10 days later with a 64-46 loss to Long Beach Poly in the state playoffs.
When it takes the court against J.W. North, Mater Dei will only have had a week off between appearances.
“We’ll be prepared with the time off,” Kiernan added. “We’ll have a better plan and know what works and what doesn’t.”
Friday’s big winner was probably a team that wasn’t selected to play in the Open Division: Troy.
The Warriors (19-8) were placed in last year’s inaugural Open bracket and went 0-2. While they did earn an at-large bid to the state playoffs, nothing was guaranteed after back-to-back losses in the Open Division.
“It’s wonderful,” an ecstatic Roger Anderson said when he saw his team would not have to jump up from the Division 1A bracket. “It’s been such a rough year between injuries, our (assistant) coach (Steve Yano) passing away and me getting into a motorcycle accident.
“I’m glad we weren’t thrown in there just because we beat Sierra Canyon (46-45). I think the committee got it right for the most part.”
Early Friday, Anderson was all but certain his team would be headed back to the Open Division. With a history of success mixed with a quality win over Sierra Canyon, Troy was one of the 20 teams consistently named to the Open Division’s “watch list.”
Anderson’s case was never that Troy couldn’t compete, and it still isn’t. The Warriors coach just felt other teams that were eligible fit the bill more than his squad.
Looking at the last four teams chosen for the Open Division, J.W. North finished the season with wins over 1AA power Etiwanda as well as Canyon Springs, the 11-seed in the Open Division. Cajon was chosen after posting a 25-1 overall record, while Oaks Christian and St. Anthony got the nod after both beat Serra of Gardena (the 12 seed) and added quality wins over Redondo Union and Winward of Los Angeles, respectively, down the stretch.
“There’s never been a system that everybody has been happy with,” Kiernan said. “Whether it’s splitting divisions by strictly enrollment or trying this Open Division experiment. It’s absolutely impossible to make it work with everybody. It’s perfectly imperfect.”
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
