Sporting News National High School Girls Basketball Top 25 Rankings: Etiwanda jumps to No. 10 a week after The Sporting News originally reported the big story. Click here to add Sports News as your go-to source.
Last week was a big week for high school girls basketball.
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Etiwanda and Archbishop Mitty are back in peak form, some key frontcourt players are back on the field, Johnston remains the undefeated queen of Iowa women’s basketball, Princess Anne has made the most of limited opportunities to compete nationally, and St. John Vianney cracks the top 25 for the first time of the season. These are just a few of the many key projects worth noting.
Here are The Sporting News’ national high school girls basketball rankings for the week of Jan. 5.
Previous Rankings: Preseason | December 1 | December 8 | December 15 | December 22 | December 29
Top 25 High School Girls Basketball Rankings
1. Ontario Christian (California) (18-0 – 1st last week)
The masterpiece continues. Ontario Christian beat Summer Creek 76-54 in its “closest” game of the season, then defeated California powerhouses Oak Park, Carondelet and Clovis by a combined score of 283-146. Saturday is truly the most anticipated game of the high school basketball regular season in our eyes: a rematch with a healthy Archbishop Mitty.
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2. DME Academy (Florida) (12-0 – 2nd)
After a few weeks’ break, DME Academy kicks off again this week, facing increasing competition. It faced Assumption Academy, Hamilton Heights Christian Academy and then the particularly dangerous Exemplar Academy Nationals.
3. Bishop McNamara (MD) (8-2 – 3rd place)
Can the Broncos sweep the WCAL for the second straight year? That’s a strong possibility, although likely higher than the order before last season. Elizabeth Seton will hold a non-conference meeting this week with bubble group Bishop Ireton and Monsignor Scanlan.
4. Long Island Lutheran (NY) (10-1 – 4th)
Last week, the Crusaders got the job done with room to compete against the big-name teams. They beat Neumann-Goretti 77-50, defending champion Morris Catholic 70-53 and Red Bank Catholic 56-42.
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5. Archbishop Mitty (California) (10-1 – 5)
McKenna Walichko Iowa Basketball
Photo by Aaron Walichko
McKenna Wolitzko is finally back with the Monarchs and it’s like she never left. She scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in just 14 minutes, helping the Monarchs beat Clovis, one of the best teams in California, 82-44 after a 29-0 start. There will be a non-conference, non-tournament regular season game on Saturday as the Monarchs take on top-ranked Ontario Christian.
6. Princess Anne (VA) (11-0 – 10th)
If you’re a public school team playing in a state that doesn’t have many nationally ranked games, it’s not easy to silence critics who say you don’t face strong enough competition to compete for a national championship. Well, that’s what Princess Anne did. It was more than tested against St. Francis College and Bullis College, beating nationally ranked Maryland opponents 82-54 and 70-57, respectively.
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7. Sierra Canyon (California) (13-1 – 8th)
Sierra Canyon wasn’t the easiest place to face Corona Centennial on Tuesday. It has far more to lose than it gains, and it’s tasked with beating a national contender whose season doesn’t start until Dec. 26, so film won’t be available until days before the game. Led by Jesse Robinson, the Trail Blazers won 62-55 to remain undefeated.
8. Johnston (IA) (10-0 – 11)
The Dragons’ offense surged into a battle of Iowa’s top teams, defeating previously undefeated Valley 82-72. Johnston will face Valley again on Feb. 6, three days after the rematch with Dowling Catholic.
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9. Bishop Gorman (NV) (11-1 – 17th)
While Etiwanda now has two of its star players who were unavailable in their loss to Bishop Gorman a few weeks ago, Bishop Gorman performed so well that we joined Etiwanda in defeating the Gaels after a big week at Etiwanda, as the Gaels themselves had another big week. They defeated previously undefeated Clovis West 67-46 to win the Las Vegas Classic, but still lost only to Bishop McNamara.
10. Etiwanda (California) (13-2 – 25)
Arlin Finley Etiwanda Basketball
Nicole Mullen/The Arizona Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn
Etiwanda is back where it started – ranked No. 10 nationally – after defeating Oregon powerhouses Tualatin and Benson Tech to win the Nike POA Holiday Classic and defeating Northern California heavyweights St. Mary’s (Stockton) and Oakland Tech. Understandably, some would argue that a jump of 15 spots is too high for Etiwanda, less than a month after an upset loss to the DPAC. We think recent history is very indicative of what Etiwanda does starting on December 26th, as opposed to the first month of the season, when Etiwanda was already at capacity due to the CIF transfer sit-out period and health issues from the previous two seasons. The Eagles immediately reached the next level after the offseason when they added junior transfers Tess Oldenburg and Jerry Moore from Chino and Carruthers, respectively, to the frontcourt.
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11. Westtown (Pennsylvania) (11-1 – 6th place)
Since losing to FB Cresset at the Nike TOC, the Moose responded by defeating the Australian Basketball Travelers (who defeated FB Cresset), followed by the Sample Academy National Team and Fort Erie International.
12. Legion Reserve (Texas) (8-2 – 7)
The Bulldogs resumed play with a 62-25 victory over Cardinal Ritter College Prep.
13. SPIRE College National (Ohio) (3-0 – 9th)
SPIRE returns to action this week as the overwhelming favorite against Cleveland Central Catholic.
14. St. James Academy of Acting (VA) (9-3 – 12th)
The Strivers will face NC GBB National Academy on Saturday in their final warm-up game before facing IMG Academy and Monsignor Scanlan next week.
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15. Tualatin(OR) (7-1 – 13th)
You can’t blame Tualatin for a 10-point loss to Etiwanda, a team that’s poised to rise after a transfer offseason in which its two best players just became eligible. Prior to that, the Timberwolves easily defeated Matt Dei 63-43.
16. Westlake (Texas) (25-0 – 15)
The fort was held well. Westlake defeated Tivy, Vandegrift, Round Rock and Glenn by 82 points on Monday and Tuesday alone, before defeating Austin 70-46 a few days later. Tuesday brings Bowie, the No. 2 team in the West Lake Conference, but West Lake remains the overwhelming favorite.
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17. St. John Vianney (NJ) (6-0 – Bubble)
It’s no surprise that St. John’s Vianney is in the top 25 this season, although we didn’t expect it to upset St. John’s on Sunday. St. John Vianney now needs to avoid any upset when bubble team Red Bank Catholic comes to town on Tuesday for an expected playoff preview.
18. St. John’s (DC) (10-3 – 20)
To some extent, St. John’s stock actually fell as Grace Christian lost to unranked competition, as Grace Christian defeated Montverde Academy, which in turn defeated St. John’s. But we can’t ragdoll St. John’s all season long based on Montverde Academy – we know Montverde is a good but inconsistent team, and that three-point loss was nearly a month ago. The situation becomes more complicated as St. John’s was defeated by St. John Vianney, but Vianney was an undefeated bubble team with enough talent to enter the top 25. For now, the Cadets are still in the same area.
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19. Bliss (MD) (9-4 – 21)
The Bliss have lost three of their past five games after losing to Princess Anne 70-57. But all four of its losses came against higher-ranked rivals, and it has plenty of opportunities to improve its results.
20. IMG Academy (Florida) (11-2 – Bubble)
We pushed the Ascendants onto the bubble last week with the expectation that we’d bring them back just as the California and Nevada bubbles were about to burst. With the DPAC fading, the bubble did burst as Etiwanda beat out Tualatin and St. Mary’s (Stockton), two of whose top players became eligible after the transfer sit-down period ended. As a result, IMG returns to the top 25 with room to spare. In the only game of the week, the team made a statement with a 64-36 victory over Elizabeth Seton.
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21. Corona Centennial (California) (5-1-14)
In its first attempt at the national tournament, Cen10 went toe-to-toe with Sierra Canyon, losing 62-55. It’s a big week for the Huskies, with a number of good unranked teams on the schedule, topped off by Monday night’s meeting with JSerra, a top-ranked team in California that is not currently ranked nationally in SN.
22. Wagner (Texas) (22-0 – Bubble)
The undefeated Thunderbirds are back in the top 25 but have yet to be rigorously tested in district play. They are clearly the team to beat in Texas UIL 5A so far, although teams like Denton Ryan, Tascosa and Argyle may have something to say about that at the end of the season.
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23. Clovis West (California) (17-1 – 22)
Clovis West’s undefeated streak was decisively ended by Bishop Gorman, who won 67-46 in the finals of the Las Vegas Classic. But the Golden Eagles pulled off one of their most impressive wins of the season, beating Fairmont Prep 79-54.
24. Arrowhead (WI) (9-0 – Bubble)
The Warhawks have scored at least 60 points in each of nine games, including 88 points in five games, including their only game last week. They beat defending Minnesota state champion Providence College 94-83, with five-star Minnesota player Natalie Kussow scoring 41 points, 13 rebounds and four assists and fellow senior W Libby Gilmore adding 15 points, 27 rebounds and three blocks.
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25. Belleville (Mich.) (5-0 – Bubble)
The last of four teams to return to the top 25 after falling into the bubble, California and Nevada’s teams that maintained ranking wins eventually fell apart. Belleville defeated Mumford 76-33 last week and defeated Indiana powerhouse Lawrence Central 65-50 last week.
Sporting News High School Girls Basketball Top 25 Bubble
Bishop Ireton (Virginia)
Bradley Center (Tennessee)
Democracy Preparatory Agassiz Campus (Nevada)
Dowling Catholic (Iowa)
Example National College (Illinois)
Faith Family Academy (Texas)
Friends Center (Pennsylvania)
Grace Christian (North Carolina)
Hoover (Alabama)
Hopkins (Minnesota)
Incarnate Word Academy (MO)
Kingdom College (Texas)
Lancaster (Texas)
Miami Country Day (Florida)
Millennium (Arizona)
Minnetonka(MN)
Bishop Scanlan (New York)
Montverde College (Florida)
Paul VI (New Jersey)
Putnam City North (OK)
Red Bank Catholic (New Jersey)
Riverdale Ridge (Colorado)
San Ramon Valley (California)
St. Francis College (M.D.)
St. Mary’s-Stockton(CA)
Valley (Iowa)
Wauwatosa East (WI)
West Clermont (Ohio)