Lynwood, Thousand Oaks Top the Seedings for Girls

A showdown between the undefeated girls’ basketball teams of Lynwood and Thousand Oaks will have to wait until the state playoffs. But both teams can be content for now with No. 1 seedings in their respective divisions as they prepare for Southern Section playoff openers Saturday night.

The Southern Section announced its girls’ basketball playoff pairings Monday, with Lynwood (23-0) receiving the top ranking among Division I-AA teams and two-time defending champion Thousand Oaks (26-0) earning the top seeding for Division I-A. Play will begin Wednesday for most teams.

While the two teams, ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively in the Times’ basketball poll, need to win their divisions to ensure berths in next month’s state playoffs, Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown looked ahead to a possible encounter.

“I’d like to play Lynwood,” Brown said Monday. “It would be a great game. Not from a revenge standpoint, but because it would be a matchup of two great teams.”

Lynwood defeated Thousand Oaks in the state Southern California Division I regional semifinals last March, 58-56, avenging a 48-47 loss to the Lancers two months earlier. Both games were played at Thousand Oaks.

Thousand Oaks, led by the play of 5-foot-11 center Marion Jones, has won 49 of its last 50 games, with the Lynwood loss as the only blemish. Lynwood was 28-3 a year ago, losing its other two games to Peninsula, the nation’s top-ranked team.

Brown said he isn’t too concerned with his team thinking about section and state titles. “If you don’t shoot for the top, you won’t make it,” he said

As with the boys’ draw announced Sunday, there is a 22% reduction in teams in the field, because of stricter eligibility criteria. A total of 230 teams made the playoffs in 10 divisions, down from 294 last year.

Brea-Olinda (24-2, 1992 Division III-AA champion) and Hacienda Heights Wilson (22-1) are seeded first in Divisions II-AA and II-A, while Inglewood Morningside (22-2) and Costa Mesa (23-4) were ranked first in the III-AA and III-A brackets.

In Divisions IV-AA and IV-A, Santa Ynez (23-1) Cerritos Valley Christian are top ranked. Top seedings in Division V-AA and V-A went to defending champions Pasadena Poly (22-3) and San Bernardino Christian (20-0).