SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Many Top Girls Teams Get Byes

The first round of the Southern Section girls’ basketball playoffs starts Thursday night.

Good luck trying to catch a top team in action, though.

Brea-Olinda High School, Orange County’s top-ranked team and the No. 1-seeded team in the 3-A pairings, has a bye.

So does Mission Viejo, the No. 1-seeded team in the 4-AA.

In fact, the 4-AA really doesn’t have much of a first round. Valencia, Tustin, Orange, University, Kennedy and Canyon also have first-round byes.

The only 4-AA games Thursday night are San Bernardino against Perris, San Clemente against Downey and Agoura versus Westlake.

In the 4-A, third-ranked Katella is seeded No. 4 and a bye. Woodbridge and La Habra also have byes in that division.

The byes are because of the Southern Section’s restructured playoff format, which has created four more divisions (there are nine this season). There just aren’t enough teams to fill the brackets, so a number of teams will have to wait until Saturday’s second round to play their first game.

Here’s a look at the pairings:

In the 5-AA, fourth-ranked Fountain Valley (16-8) is seeded No. 4 and plays host to Saddleback (13-11).

In the 5-A, fifth-ranked Ocean View (23-3, the No. 1 team from the Sunset League) has a bye and plays the Diamond Bar-Capistrano Valley winner in the second round Saturday.

Mission Viejo (21-4) has the top spot in the 4-AA and awaits the winner of Thursday’s San Bernardino-Perris game.

Valencia (16-9) plays at Cajon (15-8) in the second round. Tustin (15-10 and seeded No. 4) plays the San Clemente-Downey winner. University (19-6) plays host to Orange (Pacific Coast No. 2) and Canyon (19-4, the second-seeded team) plays host to Kennedy (11-9) in the second round.

In the 4-A, Katella (22-3) plays the winner of the Buena Park-Bishop Montgomery game in the second round.

In the 3-A, Brea-Olinda (23-2) awaits the winner of the Sierra Vista-Bellflower game. La Quinta (21-3, the third-seeded team) also has a bye. The Aztecs play the Foothill-Brawley winner on Saturday.