Taft Girls’ Only Slip Means No. 4 Playoff Seeding

Taft High’s only loss of the season cost it dearly Saturday when the City Section playoff committee determined its girls’ basketball playoff brackets in a meeting at Manual Arts High.

The Toreadors (20-1) clinched the West Valley League title with a 60-42 victory over El Camino Real on Friday. But a 60-47 loss to Chatsworth on Feb. 2 probably cost Taft a No. 3 seeding in the 16-team City championship bracket.

The playoffs begin Friday.

Harbor City Narbonne, defending national, state Division I and City champion, and Westchester were the No. 1- and 2-seeded teams, as expected. But Crenshaw was given the No. 3 seeding ahead of Taft, which is No. 4, because the Cougars were undefeated in Coliseum League play.

The West Valley League was regarded as a tougher league than the Coliseum League by the playoff committee, but that wasn’t enough to give Taft a No. 3 seeding.

“I definitely think we deserved to be top three,” Coach Mark Drucker of Taft said. “Ours was voted a tougher league than Crenshaw’s, but they gave Crenshaw the higher seed because they finished undefeated in league and we had one loss.

“Also, I think our league should have been voted higher than the Western League because our fifth-place team [Cleveland] beat that league’s second-place team [Hamilton]. And we beat Carson twice. They finished third in the Marine League and that was supposed to be the toughest league.”

The No. 4 seeding means Taft could meet Narbonne, rather than Westchester, in the semifinals.

Chatsworth, North Hollywood, Grant and Monroe were also selected to play in the City championship tournament.

Chatsworth, seeded seventh, will host No. 10 Hamilton, with No. 11 North Hollywood playing at No. 6 Carson, No. 12 Grant playing at No. 5 Gardena and No. 16 Monroe playing at Narbonne.

Grant defeated North Hollywood, 49-42, on Wednesday to help the Lancers claim a share of their second consecutive Sunset Six League championship. But Grant lost a coin flip with North Hollywood on Saturday morning and went into the seeding meeting as the league’s No. 2 representative.

Grant (18-7) will meet Taft in a quarterfinal if both teams win in the first round.

“I’m disappointed we lost the flip,” Coach Steve Brumwell of Grant said. “But as I look at it, we’re in a better position at 12 than we would have been at 11.”

El Camino Real (14-7) could have forged a three-way tie for first place in the West Valley League with a victory over Taft on Friday, but the Conquistadores’ loss dropped them out of the City championship bracket and into the invitational division, where they are seeded first.

Taft also had the highest seeding among Valley teams in the boys’ city championship bracket.

The Toreadors (19-6), who tied Chatsworth for the West Valley League title, are seeded eighth and will host No. 9 Grant.

Sylmar, which was undefeated in Valley Mission League play, is seeded 10th and will play at No. 7 Washington, with No. 14 North Hollywood at No. 3 Fremont and No. 15 Chatsworth at No. 2 Fairfax.

A Taft victory in the first round would probably set up a quarterfinal game against defending champion and top-seeded Westchester.

“A lot of the teams ahead of us were afraid of drawing Westchester in the second round, but I’m not,” said coach Derrick Taylor of Taft. “I’d look forward to playing them. But I’m not by any means overlooking Grant.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CITY SECTION PLAYOFF PAIRINGS

BOYS

First Round, Friday

CHAMPIONSHIP

* Grant (Sunset Six) at Taft (West Valley)

* North Hollywood (Sunset Six) at Fremont (Coliseum)

* Sylmar (Valley Mission) at Washington (Marine)

* Chatsworth (West Valley) at Fairfax (Western)

INVITATIONAL

* Kennedy (Valley Mission) at Jordan (Eastern)

* Hamilton (Western) at Granada Hills (West Valley)

* Jefferson (Coliseum) at Birmingham (West Valley)

* Reseda (Valley Mission) at Canoga Park (Sunset Six)

* Monroe (Valley Mission) at Narbonne (Marine)

GIRLS

First Round, Friday

CHAMPIONSHIP

* Monroe (Valley Mission) at Narbonne (Marine)

* Grant (Sunset Six) at Gardena (Marine)

* Wilson (Northern) at Taft (West Valley)

* North Hollywood (Sunset Six) at Carson (Marine)

* Hamilton (Western) at Chatsworth (West Valley)

INVITATIONAL

* Franklin (Northern) at El Camino Real (West Valley)

* Cleveland (West Valley) at Garfield (Eastern)

* Poly (Sunset Six) at Venice (Western)

* Manual Arts (Coliseum) at Granada Hills (West Valley)

* Eagle Rock (Northern) at Sylmar (Valley Mission)

* Kennedy (Valley Mission) at Marshall (Northern)

*

Staff writer Dave Desmond and correspondent Steve Galluzzo contributed to this story.