Girls’ Basketball: Estancia has first-round bye

The Estancia High girls’ basketball team dropped just one game in the Orange Coast League and won the league title.

The effort helped the Eagles earn a first-round bye in the CIF Southern Section Division 3-A playoffs, as the playoff brackets were released Sunday.

Estancia (19-7), the No. 9 seed, will play host to the winner of Hemet Tahquitz at Ridgecrest Burroughs on Saturday in the second round.

Corona del Mar (9-17) finished sixth and last in the Pacific Coast League and is in the Division 3-AA playoffs as an at-large entry. The Sea Kings will play in the first round at Hawthorne Thursday. Hawthorne (12-11) finished second in the Ocean League.

Costa Mesa (15-11) will have the daunting task of playing at top-seeded Windward in the first round of the Division 4-AA playoffs on Thursday. The Mustangs finished fourth in the Orange Coast League. Windward (25-0) won the Alpha League.

Sage Hill also made the playoffs as an at-large entry in Division 5-A. The Lightning (8-11), who finished fourth in the Academy League, play at AGBU in Pasadena in a wild-card game Thursday. AGBU (12-6) finished third in the Westside League.

The winner plays at Academy for Academic Excellence (17-5), the Agape League champion, in Saturday’s first round in Apple Valley.

— Steve Virgen