Christian Bows Out of Regional Game

The Christian High School girls’ basketball team has decided not to play second-seeded Chowchilla Tuesday in the Division IV Southern California Regionals, Coach Rod Bell said Monday.

Bell said that Christian (7-17) did not deserve to play in the state playoffs with a losing record.

Kendall Webb, San Diego Section commissioner, nominated Christian, but said he did it only because there were not enough teams to fill the tournament.

“The whole thing was generated by a greater number of openings in the regional than anticipated due to the Southern Section format that effectively eliminated teams that would otherwise be considered,” Webb said.

“I thought it was better to put in a few of our teams rather than say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have any more.’ I thought it was safer to do that with the possibility that they might decide not to participate, than to not put any in and have them come back later and say, ‘We would have loved to participate.’ ”

Chowchilla (25-2) will automatically advance to the second round.