To the surprise of no one, Archbishop Mitty rolled to another CCS Open title, whipping St. Ignatius in the finals 84-44 despite missing two stars in Morgan Cheli and Belle Bramer. Mitty simply had too much talent, playing too well. McKenna Woliczko was at a different level, notching 30 points in the final. Elana Weisman continued to be an offensive force and both Emma Cook ‘26 and Tee Mccarthy ‘27 stepped in to make up for their missing teammates. All that said, the Monarchs need their starters back and healthy to win through at the next level.
St. Ignatius earns a shout out for making the final after going 3-0 in pool play with wins over Priory, Los Gatos and WBAL rival Sacred Heart Cathedral. The gritty Wildcats just don’t have the size or skill to compete with the #1 team in the country. See them as a #6 or #7 seed in Norcal D1.
Sacred Heart Cathedral has been strong all season, and was solid again in pool play as the #2 seed. The loss to SI can be forgiven, as it was the teams’ third meeting of the year, and it’s always hard to sweep in those circumstances. Now at 22-4, it’s theoretically possible that they’ll get bumped to play in Norcal Open to fill out an eight team bracket. But they deserve better. Maybe a #3 seed in D1.
Pinewood showed best against Mitty, giving them a competitive game until late in the third quarter (they were down 14 with the ball with about 2 mins left). The Panthers handled Mitty’s pressure well, had some beautiful drives to the bucket, and got their typical three-point shooting. But they fell well short on the glass, where Mitty got a bunch of easy putbacks. Pinewood also knocked off Riordan and St. Francis in pool play. Would not be surprised to see them get a high (#4?) seed in Norcal D1 and compete for the title.
Priory qualified for CCS open with a surprising late season win against Pinewood, but then inexplicably got the #3 seed. That made no sense, and Priory proved as much, going 0-3 in open pool play, losing to SI and Los Gatos at home, as well as to SHC. I suspect they’ll be “rewarded” with a low seed and tough game in Norcal D1.
Riordan, the #5 seed, got blown out by Mitty, competed well against Pinewood before falling by 15, and then topped St. Francis for the third time this season. At 16-10, with a win over SI, I’m guessing an 11-13 seed in Norcal D1.
As predicted, Los Gatos got a win in pool play against a private school. Unfortunately that may bump them ahead of Priory in NorCal seedings making them a low seed in D1. Ashley Childers and Nicole Steiner are bigs that create matchup problems. It would be nice of the committee to give them a chance in D2.
St. Francis was outmatched in every game. Junior point guard Maia Jiminez is their best threat. They are probably a low D2 seed.
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