Diablo Valley tops SID's Final State Top 20 Women's Basketball Rankings

PASADENA - Fittingly, the two teams that traded places in the No. 1 spot all 2018-19 season fought it out in the state championship final. Diablo Valley proved to be a little better than regular season No. 1 Moorpark and by virtue of winning its first title in the sport was voted unanimously No. 1 in the California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) Women's Basketball State Top 20 Final Rankings. 

It was a battle of the two State Players of the Year in DVC's Zahria Hendrix (also tourney MVP) and Moorpark's Breanna Calhoun in the CCCAA final won by the Vikings, 68-61, on Sunday at Ventura College. Diablo Valley rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half. Taking all 15 first-place votes, DVC ended the season on an 11-game win streak while snapping the Raiders' 16-game string. Moorpark settled for No. 2 and the highest-ranked South squad.

The Big 8 Conference can stake claim as this season's "most powerful" with semifinalist San Joaquin Delta grabbing No. 4, Sierra moving back into the top 10 at No. 9 and Sacramento City making the biggest jump of six spots to No. 12 in the final ranking. The Panthers lost by just four points to DVC in the North Regional Finals. 

Another proud conference is the Central Valley as Merced nailed down the No. 3 rank and pushed Moorpark to the brink in the semifinals, losing by just five points. College of the Sequoias also played well in the tournament quarterfinals and earned No. 6.

The South Coast Conference North Division placed four teams in the top 20, including final 8 representatives Los Angeles Trade Tech at No. 5 and East Los Angeles coming in at No. 7. Pasadena City was the only team from the regular season final rankings that remained in its same spot at No. 14 while No. 16 Mt. San Antonio took the biggest dive in the ratings, dropping eight spots after a one-and-done in the South Regionals, upset by 13th seed and final #15 rated Irvine Valley.

Ventura found the end of its 28-year streak of conference titles wouldn't deter the Pirates from making the state tournament as the host. The Pirates leaped five slots into the top 10 at No. 8 and went down to the final shot before losing to champion Diablo Valley by just two points in the quarterfinals. City College of San Francisco stayed in the top 10 (at #10).

Glendale moved up three spots to No. 13 thanks to a mild upset over El Camino in the regionals while Cabrillo also jumped three places to No. 17. Cypress snuck into the top 20 at #20 after gaining credibility with a tough 3-point loss to East LA in the regionals Round 2. 

At the state tournament, an impressive 19 of the 36-player All-State regular season team were featured on the big stage.