Cavaliers near a double play

These folks may not be Mater Dei or Orangewood Academy, but Santiago High School of Garden Grove is on the brink of winning two league basketball titles, one for the boys and one for the girls.

Santiago’s boys’ team is 12-3 overall and 8-0 in league, and leads the GGL race by two games over Bolsa Grande (6-4, 6-2) with two games to play, so has clinched no worse than a tie for the crown.  A win by the Matadors today would prevent or delay a clear title to the championship. When they played earlier in the season, the Cavaliers prevailed 59-33.

One of the most interesting local high school girls hoops matchups this week will be on Thursday, when Santiago – ranked number one in CIF-SS Division 4AA – hosts La Quinta (tied for eighth in 4AA) in the final Garden Grove League game of the season.

Unless Bolsa Grande (0-9 overall and 0-8 in league play) pulls off an upset today (Tuesday), the Cavaliers (13-2, 8-0) will have clinched the GGL title outright when they face the Aztecs.

Their previous meeting was a blowout for SHS, but it should be fun to watch LQ’s Ryann Nadeau against the Cavs’ Briana Landeros in the paint.

Cavaliers poll vault to the top

As noted above, the Santiago girls’ basketball team is now ranked first in Division 4AA. The only other local team atop its division in this week’s CIF-SS basketball polls is Orange’s boys’ teams. The Panthers are 8-7 overall and third place in the Orange Coast League race, making them seem like an unusual choice for the top spot.

Here are the CIF-SS poll results as released on Monday. We list the top-ranked team in each division, and any of our local teams in The Tribune’s coverage area.

BOYS BASKETBALL

• Division 3A: Knight is first; Marina is fifth
• Division 4AA: Poly/Pasadena is first; Orangewood Academy is fifth and Santiago sixth. Huntington Beach is tied for 14th
• Division 5AA: Calvary Chapel/Santa Ana is first; Western is third
• Division 5A: Orange is first

GIRLS BASKETBALL

• Open Division: Orangewood
• Division 1: Mater Dei is first; Orangewood is sixth
• Division 4AA: Santiago is first; La Quinta is tied for eighth
• Division 5AA: Linfield Christian is first; Ocean View is eighth and Western is 13th
• Division 5A: Pacifica Christian/OC is first; Loara is ninth and Los Amigos is 15th.

BASEBALL

• Division 1: Ayala is first; Huntington Beach is seventh
• Division 2: Thousand Oaks is first; Ocean View is fifth
• Division 6: Aquinas is first; Garden Grove is sixth; Orange is unranked but received some votes

SOFTBALL

• Division 1: Norco is first; Pacifica is second and Huntington Beach is fifth
• Division 6: St. Bonaventure is first; Rancho Alamitos is unranked but received some votes
• Division 7: Southlands Christian is first; Magnolia and Orangewood Academy are unranked but received some votes

BOYS’ LACROSSE

• Division 2: St. Francis is first; Edison is fourth and Huntington Beach is sixth.

GIRLS LACROSSE

• Division 1: Foothill is first; Edison is seventh.

“Prep Sport Spotlight” is posted on Tuesdays during the high school athletic year. Send scores, stats, photos, etc. to us at orangecountytribune@gmail.com .