The San Diego Section playoffs were not the end for winter sports teams as qualified basketball, soccer and girls water polo teams continued to strive for glory in the Southern California regional playoffs. For a few lucky enough teams, a state championship was in the headlights.
A total of 18 boys and girls basketball teams each from within the section qualified to compete in the state regionals: all eight teams from the Open Division, all four semifinalists in Division I, the champion and runner-up in both Division II and Division III, and champions only in Division IV and Division V.
The qualifying format for soccer featured the semifinalists from the Open Division and champions only in Division I through Division V.
East County teams were represented in the regional basketball, soccer and water polo playoffs.
Hooping it up
Grossmont (No. 5 seed in the girls Open Division), El Capitan (No. 7 seed in the girls Open Division), Christian (Division III girls champion) and Santana (Division V girls champion) all qualified to move on to the single-elimination regional playoffs.
Grossmont received the No. 2 seed in the Division II girls basketball regionals while El Capitan received the No. 4 seed. Also, Cathedral Catholic received the No. 3 seed while Rancho Bernardo received the No. 7 seed as four section teams competed in the 15-team Division I field.
El Capitan defeated No. 13 Rancho Buena Vista, 62-54, while Cathedral Catholic (53-52 over No. 14 Oak Hills) and Rancho Bernardo (38-35 over Rosary Academy) also advanced from the opening round. Grossmont, which made it as far as last year’s state championship game, negated any return to an elite finish with a 51-46 opening-round loss to 15th-seeded Mark Keppel.
Senior Paige Worthem keyed El Capitan with 18 points while junior Keira Heinricy (12 points) and senior Lily Williams (11 points) also scored in double figures. Williams and Worthem each pulled down 11 rebounds while Heinricy and sophomore Sasha Parker each logged four assists.
The Lady Vaqueros’ drive to advance ended in the second round with a 57-49 loss to Portola despite 24 points from Heinricy and 11 points from Worthem. Williams paced the team with 12 rebounds in the season-ending loss.
El Capitan got down 20-8 in the first quarter and couldn’t recover despite out-scoring the Lady Bulldogs 41-37 in the remaining three quarters.
The Lady Vaqs finished the 2024-25 season with a 24-7 record following a second-place finish in the Grossmont Hills League standings (to Grossmont).
The Lady Foothillers ended the season 22-5 following the setback to Mark Keppel, which lost 41-37 to Rancho Bernardo in the second round.
Rancho Bernardo (25-7) eliminated sixth-seeded Arroyo Grande, 44-37, in Saturday’s regional semifinals to advance to Tuesday’s regional final against top-seeded Monache (25-8).
Cathedral Catholic (20-10) ended its playoff run with a 68-54 loss to Arroyo Grande in the second round.
The state championships are March 14-15 in Sacramento.
Christian (Division III section champions) received the No. 8 seed in the Division III regionals and opened the state playoffs with a 67-58 win over ninth-seeded Cerritos to extend its winning streak to 19 games.
Four players scored in double figures for the Lady Pats: freshman Leah Speers and sophomore Jazmyn Bugg each with 17 points, senior M.J. Johnson with 16 points and junior Sierra Weckback with 13 points. Weckback led the team with 14 rebounds.
However, the Lady Patriots’ season ended with a 76-56 loss to top-seeded Pallisades in the second round.
Johnson had 18 points and seven rebounds while Speers had 16 points and four steals in the loss.
Christian finished its season 25-5 overall after marching through the City League Standings with an unblemished 8-0 record as league champions.
Pallisades (17-16) ended its own season with a 57-55 upset loss to No. 5 Mater Dei Catholic (Division I section semifinalist) in Saturday’s third-round clash. The Lady Crusaders (20-13) advanced to meet No. 2 El Camino Real (16-14) in Tuesday’s regional final, with the winner advancing to Friday’s state championship game in Sacramento.
Mater Dei Catholic defeated No. 12 Bakersfield Liberty, 66-40, in the opening round before scoring a 59-52 upset win over fourth-seeded Carlsbad (20-13) in the second round. The Lady Crusaders tamed No. 1 Pallisades in the next round to continue the road to state.
Santana’s trip to the Division V regional playoffs ended in the opening round following a 55-47 loss to No. 1 Kennedy. Lady Sultans (25-7) entered the state playoffs as the No. 16 seed in the division.
No. 2 Santana defeated No. 4 Del Lago Academy, 46-26, to win the Division V section title.
Getting their kicks
Christian (Division V boys champion) received an invitation to the regional playoffs as did Patrick Henry (Division I girls champion). Christian received the No. 7 seed in Division V while Patrick Henry received the No. 2 seed in Division III.
Christian met No. 2 Polytechnic in the quarterfinals on March 4, ending the season with a 3-0 loss. No. 5 Classical Academy (Division IV section champion) emerged with the regional title in the division with a 2-1 win over Polytechnic on Saturday.
Classical (19-3-3) upset No. 4 Kennedy by a 3-0 score in the quarterfinals and toppled No. 1 St. Margaret’s by a score of 1-0 in the semifinals.
Patrick Henry (17-8-2) advanced through its bracket with a string of three consecutive shutout wins — 3-0 over No. 7 Long Beach Poly (12-5-1) in the quarterfinals, 4-0 over No. 3 Thousand Oaks (13-10-3) in the semifinals and 5-0 over No. 1 Warren (21- 4-3) in the championship match.
Senior Kathryn Mokhov led the Lady Patriots with two goals in the championship game while junior Elizabeth Barefoot recorded one goal and two assists.
Sophomore Emma Cunningham led Patrick Henry with two goals in the semifinal win while Mokhov and Brihana Gieger each collected one goal and one assist.
Cunningham scored twice while Mokhov tacked on one goal in the regional opener.
Junior goalkeeper Zoe Claisse registered all three shutout wins.
No. 1 Pacific Ridge (Division II section champion) captured the Division IV regional boys crown with a 3-2 overtime win over No. 3 Central Union, the Division IV section champion.
The Firebirds (23-2-3) kicked off regionals with a 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Desert Mirage, then topped No. 4 Yucaipa (16-9-4) by a score of 1-0.
Senior Max Pulvers keyed Pacific Ridge with a goal and assist, including the OT winner, while juniors Alexander Trusov and Audel Mobasher each scored one goal.
Central Union finished the season 26-3-4, inclusive of a kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker win over Helix Charter in the section final. Senior Joseph Rosas scored both goals for the runner-up Spartans.
Making a splash
Valhalla received the No. 4 seed in this year’s Open Division playoffs and defeated No. 5 La Jolla, 9-6, in the quarterfinals before dropping out of the championship bracket with a 17-7 loss to No. 1 Bishop’s in the semifinals.
The Lady Norsemen (24-6) resumed play in the Division II regional quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed against No. 7 Rancho Bernardo, the Division I section champion with an 8-7 double-overtime win over Patrick Henry. Valhalla made a statement with a 20-8 victory before hanging a 13-10 defeat on No. 3 Murrieta Valley. But Valhalla could not make it three wins in a row while dropping a 9-6 decision to No. 1 Clairemont (20-13) in the regional championship game.
Clairemont had received the No. 3 seed in the section Open Division playoffs before losing to No. 2 Carlsbad, 10-6, in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Cathedral Catholic (28-4) defeated Lake Balboa Birmingham, 20-5, to claim the Division III regional title. Freshman Frankie McNeil led the Lady Dons with six goals while Hailey Romero and Maddie Otero each chipped in with four goals.
Birmingham finished the season 20-10.
Open Division section champion Bishop’s, seeded fifth in the Division I regionals, bowed out with a 13-7 loss in the quarterfinals to No. 4 Orange Lutheran while SD Open Division runner-up eighth-seeded Carlsbad was eliminated to top-seeded Oaks Christian, 10- 7, in the first round.
