After going 16-8 through the regular season, the San Benito
girls’ basketball team was awarded a first-round bye and a home
game in this week’s Central Coast Section Division I
Championships.
SAN JOSE
After going 16-8 through the regular season, the San Benito girls’ basketball team was awarded a first-round bye and a home game in this week’s Central Coast Section Division I Championships.
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Finishing third in the Tri-County Athletic League with an 8-4 mark, the Balers will host the winner between No. 14 Fremont (11-13) and No. 11 Carlmont (16-8) in Thursday’s second round of play.
Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Hollister’s Mattson Gym.
“It’s nice that we have a home game on Thursday,” San Benito head coach David Kaplansky said. “And I like how the bracket fell. We’re going against teams away from our league opponents.”
Carlmont, which went 8-2 to finish runner-up in the Ocean Division of the Peninsula Athletic League, is the favorite to win Tuesday’s matchup against Fremont.
The Sunnyvale school placed fourth at 7-4 in the El Camino Athletic League, and lost two of its final three games to close out the regular season.
The winner of Thursday’s matchup in Hollister will advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round against No. 3 Gunn (17-5), with the winner of that matchup advancing to the Division I semifinals.
The highest-seeded team opposite of San Benito’s bracket is No. 2 Gilroy (21-1), though, which has twice faced and beaten the Balers in TCAL play.
Gilroy will need to emerge from a bracket that includes No. 15 Watsonville (14-11), No. 10 Evergreen Valley (11-15) and No. 7 Wilcox (13-11) to reach the semifinal round, which will be held at Gilroy’s Christopher High School.
Quarterfinal matches will also take place nearby, at Hartnell College in Salinas.
“If we’re able to win our game on Thursday, that’d be nice for the community,” Kaplansky said of the nearby venue.
In the opposite bracket of Division I, No. 1 Palo Alto (19-4) and No. 4 Oak Grove (20-4) both received two byes, while No. 5 North Salinas (18-6) and No. 8 Milpitas (13-11) each received a first-round bye.
In opening round matches, No. 9 Santa Teresa (10-15) will face No. 16 Independence (6-16), No. 12 Monta Vista (7-16) will host No. 13 Leland (10-14), and No. 10 Evergreen Valley (11-15) will square off against No. 15 Watsonville (14-11).
The CCS Division I Championship will be held Saturday, March 5, at Santa Clara University. Game time is 6 p.m.
