Moorpark, Delta Still Elite In SIA Women's Basketball State Top 20

CCCWBCA Regional Rankings (Feb. 17)

PASADENA - The furious pace of the top 15 teams has created more jockeying in this week's California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) Women's Basketball State Top 20 Rankings. Despite clinching the Big 8 title and on a 19-game winning streak, San Joaquin Delta is only hanging on to the #1 ranking with 11 first-place votes, but with just a seven-point lead over surging #2 Moorpark. The Raiders clinched the Western State North Division crown and has won 15 in a row.

Mt. San Jacinto has a state-best 23-game win streak and clinched the first-ever Inland Empire Athletic Conference championship. Irvine Valley jumped a spot to #4 after clinching at least a tie for the Orange Empire title. The Lasers are on an 11-game win streak and can win the OEC crown outright with a win on Feb. 19 v. #17 Cypress.

Diablo Valley, battling #11 Sierra for second place in the Big 8, moved up another spot to #5. The Vikings face top-rated Delta this week and the Wolverines are counting on winning their two contests and hoping for a DVC defeat v. the Mustangs to share second in the conference. 

Merced is the Central Valley Conference champions and has climbed two spots to #6 as it extended its current win streak to 11. Palomar has dropped three spots to #7, but keeps its respect level high after new #12 MiraCosta (moved up three slots) beat the Comets, 59-52, for the second time in Pacific Coast Athletic Conference play last week. The Spartans are the surprising PCAC champions while Palomar is 23-1 v. all other opponents, settling for second this season in conference. 

At #8 is Mt. San Antonio, leading the South Coast Conference by one game over #15 Pasadena City. Rio Hondo stayed at #16 after its second loss in SCC play v. unranked LA Trade Tech. Unrated East Los Angeles sent PCC to double overtime but its 86-82 loss have the Huskies occupying last in the wildly-competitive division. This week, Mt. SAC has to get by host ELAC and then face Pasadena in the division finale on Feb. 21.

PCC has no easy task to catch the Mounties as they host Trade Tech on Wednesday. Rio Hondo still has a mathematical chance of sharing the title but would first need PCC and Mt. SAC to lose their Wednesday contests and then beat ELAC on Friday while having the Lancers beat the Mounties. If that occurs, all three teams would share the SCC North title. In state RPI, the SCC North continues to show its strength with Mt. SAC #5, Pasadena #12, Rio Hondo #14, East LA #22, and Trade Tech #23.

Glendale slipped two spots to #9 but has already clinched at least a tie for the Western State South Division title. Chabot made the biggest jump in the rankings with a 4-spot hop to #10. The Gladiators appears on course to finish in a 3-way tie for the Coast North crown with now unranked Skyline (fell from #20) and #18 City College of San Francisco. None of the teams face each other in the final week and if each win out, they finish with identical 8-2 division marks. 

Ventura dropped a few spots to #13 but its current #3 RPI spot in the state has kept the Pirates relevant despite its third loss in WSC North play, 69-54, to #2 Moorpark. Ventura's pre-conference schedule included wins v. #4 Irvine Valley, two v. #8 Mt. SAC, #10 Chabot, and #12 MiraCosta. Among their losses are two v. Moorpark, and singles v. #3 Mt. San Jacinto and #9 Glendale. 

At #14, Butte fell two rungs after a 75-71 upset loss to Lassen that broke the Roadrunners 7-game win streak. That allows #19 College of the Redwoods a chance to share the Golden Valley Conference title with Butte if Redwoods can beat Shasta on Wednesday. However, Butte is no sure thing in its finale as it faces Feather River, a team it beat by just four points in their first GVC matchup. 

New #20 into the rankings is red-hot Long Beach City, already clinching at least a share of the SCC South Division title and on a 10-game win streak. 

The Coast South and Bay Valley Conferences have not been able to dent a spot in the Top 20 with BVC's Yuba (17-7) the highest state RPI team in the two conferences at a modest #41. San Jose City, third place in the Coast South, has that league's highest RPI at 50th.

Conference Leaders
Bay Valley--unranked Yuba and Solano 10-2, Merritt 9-2
Big 8--#1 San Joaquin Delta 13-0, clinched title
Central Valley--#6 Merced 11-0, clinched title
Coast North--unranked Skyline and #10 Chabot 7-2, #18 San Francisco 6-2
Coast South--unranked De Anza 8-2, Cabrillo 7-3
Golden Valley--#14 Butte and #19 Redwoods 7-2
Inland Empire Athletic--#3 Mt. San Jacinto 11-0, clinched title
Orange Empire--#4 Irvine Valley 10-0 (clinched at least a tie for title), #17 Cypress 8-2
Pacific Coast Athletic--#12 MiraCosta 11-0, clinched title
South Coast North--#8 Mt. San Antonio 5-1, #15 Pasadena 4-2
South Coast South--#20 Long Beach City 8-0 (clinched at least tie for title), El Camino 6-2
Western State North--#2 Moorpark 8-0, clinched title
Western State South--#9 Glendale 11-1 (clinched at least tie for title) unranked LA Valley, Antelope Valley 9-3