GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PAIRINGS : Corona del Mar (14-9) Left Out

Garth Flint made 13 phone calls Monday afternoon and delivered the news to his Corona del Mar girls’ basketball players.

They weren’t going to the playoffs.

When the Southern Section office announced the pairings on Monday, Corona del Mar was left out, though the Sea Kings (14-9) had more victories than nine of the 16 teams that made it into the Division IV-AA playoffs.

“They would have been our No. 1 at-large team,” said Dean Crowley, the section’s associate commissioner heading up the basketball tournament. “I feel sorry for them. They’re a good team at that level.”

Corona del Mar is the smallest school from the eight-team Sea View League and tied Tustin for fourth place with a 7-7 league record.

But Tustin defeated Corona del Mar, 48-40, in a playoff game Saturday to win the league’s fourth and final automatic playoff berth; Tustin entered the Division II-AA bracket. That meant Corona del Mar had to petition for a spot in the 16-team IV-AA bracket. However, there were 16 automatic qualifiers in the division, and the Sea Kings were left on the outside looking in.

“I do understand the playoff format,” Flint said. “I don’t understand why--when they looked at us--they didn’t say, ‘How can we make sure this doesn’t happen?’ ”

Corona del Mar, the most glaring Orange County exclusion, was one of 14 teams that petitioned for a playoff entry but was denied.

Most other county teams fared pretty well on the draw sheet, though there was one surprise.

Brea-Olinda (24-2), ranked third in the state and No. 1 in Division II, is the top-seeded team and has a first-round bye, but will likely play a tough opponent in its first game, either Rosemead or Ocean View (14-11). It is Ocean View, which tied for third in the tough Sunset League, that worries Brea-Olinda Coach Mark Trakh.

“Usually, we have an easy first game,” Trakh said. “This is not. If we get by that game, it looks pretty good to the semis. That game’s definitely a quarterfinal (quality) game.

“It’s not fair to Ocean View, either. They could win a few games in this tournament.”

The county’s other top-seeded team, third-ranked Costa Mesa (23-4), plays host to Santa Fe Springs St. Paul (14-10) when the playoffs begin Wednesday. Rancho Alamitos (21-4) is seeded second.

Other games of note Wednesday include Fountain Valley playing a Division I-AA wild-card game at Lakewood. The winner plays at second-seeded Capistrano Valley.

Huntington Beach (23-3), ranked 12th in the state and fourth in the county, plays host to Los Alamitos (11-12) in Division I-A.

Marina (20-4), which tied Huntington Beach for the Sunset League title, is seeded fourth and could meet the state’s No. 1 team, Thousand Oaks, in the semifinals.

Other seeded teams from the county include Troy (fourth, Division II-A) and Newport Harbor (fourth, III-AA).

COMPLETE PAIRINGS: C13