Girls basketball: City reps locked in for regional tournament

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Four teams from the City Section clinched berths for the Southern California Regional playoffs with victories Tuesday. No. 1 Chatsworth, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Narbonne and No. 5 Taft were all winners -- Chatsworth and Narbonne, predictably, had an easier time than the others.

On Thursday in the semifinals, Taft plays at Chatsworth and Narbonne plays at Washington. Tip-offs are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Chatsworth has beaten Taft twice, easily, in West Valley League games. Narbonne and Washington have split in Marine League games, with Washington staging a fourth-quarter comeback in their second meeting after an injury to Narbonne’s Reiko Thomas.

If I’ve got this straight, the City semifinal losers will square off in a play-in game to get into the first round of the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs, which is the next step in trying to determine a state champion. It’s a tough nut to crack because not only do they have to wait for the play-in game on Monday, March 3, but the winner would then travel the next day for a first-round game on March 4.

It’s a brutal way to get to the state title game. I’m reasonably confident that whoever has to do it, won’t be able to.

-- Martin Henderson