Bell Gardens’ Spirit Unbroken by Loss

Girls’ water polo playoffs do not begin until next week, but Santa Ana Foothill made a strong case to be considered the best team in any division by breaking Bell Gardens’ 85-game winning streak last weekend in the championship game of the Irvine Southern California Championships.

The anticipated matchup between the top-ranked teams in Division I (Foothill) and Division III (Bell Gardens) capped three days of competition in the 32-team tournament, which featured the top-ranked team in each of the Southern Section’s five divisions, the top 10 ranked teams in Division I, and two of the San Diego section’s top-ranked teams.

“Our goal every year is to win CIF and that hasn’t changed,” Bell Gardens Coach Robert Greenamyer said. “We got beat by a better team. Now we just have to start another streak.”

Said Foothill co-Coach Dan Klatt: “Hats off to Bell Gardens. They started this whole thing. They were playing girls’ water polo before there was any girls’ water polo. They are the pioneers.”

Bell Gardens is led by U.S. junior national team members Patty Cardenas and goalie Alex Lopez. Melissa Madrid and Sheetal Narsai are members of the U.S. youth national team.

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Basketball playoff brackets in 10 boys’ and 10 girls’ divisions will be announced Sunday.

Teams with at least 11 victories are eligible to petition for inclusion in the playoffs.

Wild-card games begin Wednesday. Championship games are March 1-3.

This season, there are three divisions within Division I. The winners of I-AAA, I-AA and I-A receive automatic berths in the Southern California regional of the state tournament. One of the second-place teams will receive an at-large berth.

The first and second-place teams in all other divisions qualify for the state regional.

Girls’ water polo playoff brackets will also be announced Sunday, girls’ soccer Monday.

Pairings for the team dual-meet wrestling finals in six divisions will be announced today. Finals will be staged Saturday at sites to be determined.