An astounding 11 Pasadena-area girls’ basketball teams saw their names come up in their respective division draws when the CIF Southern Section announced playoff pairings on Sunday afternoon.
Leading the way was South Pasadena, which, despite finishing second in the Rio Hondo League, garnered the fifth seed in Division 3-A. It will be joined in the postseason by Pasadena, La Salle, Pasadena Poly, San Marino, Mayfield, Maranatha, Westridge, Marshall Fundamental, Pasadena Armenian General Benevolent Union and St. Monica Academy.
The Tigers received a bye into Saturday’s second round and will host either No. 12 Ocean View or Covina. Should South Pas advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinals it’s favored to meet fourth-seeded San Luis Obispo.
Perhaps surprisingly, Pasadena High received an at-large berth out of the Pacific League with a 6-17 overall record and will open up Division 3-AAA play at fourth-seeded Laguna Hills, the South Coast League No. 2 team, on Thursday.
Division 4-AA and 4-A are loaded with locals.
In 4-AA, La Salle received an at-large bid and a No. 16 ranking as a Del Rey League at-large seed and will face host and Olympic League champion Heritage Christian in Thursday’s first round. Elsewhere in the division, Prep League champion Pasadena Poly will host No. 9 Rosary, a Trinity League at-large squad, while San Marino, after a third-place Rio Hondo League finish, has the daunting task of taking on second-seeded JSerra, the No. 2 team out of the Trinity League.
Also on Thursday in 4-A, after a fourth-place Prep League finish, Mayfield will travel to face No. 8 Crossroads, the Delphic League champion. Maranatha received an at-large berth out of the Olympic League and will travel to face Academy League champion Whitney, the No. 5 seed. Also in the division, No. 11 Westridge, after finishing third in the Prep League, hosts Agape League No. 3 Excelsior Charter, while Marshall, the fourth-place Delphic League finisher, travels to face No. 7 Fairmont Prep, the San Joaquin League champion.
Down in 5-A, AGBU will host Sage Hill on Thursday in a wild-card matchup after it finished third in the Westside League and Sage Hill received an at-large bid out of the Academy League.
St. Monica, which took third in the International League, travels to face No. 9 Capistrano Valley Christian, which finished third in the San Joaquin League, on Thursday in the D6 opening round.
