San Joaquin Delta tops first CCCSIA Women's Basketball State Top 20 rankings

CCCWBCA Regional Polls (Jan. 20)

PASADENA - San Joaquin Delta, currently boasting the most victories in the state, scored 11 of 14 first-place votes to take the No. 1 slot in the first 2020 California Community College Sports Information Association (CCCSIA) Women's Basketball State Top 20 Rankings. 

Delta (20-1) is on a 13-game win streak since its only loss of the season to #8 Mt. San Antonio (46-44) during the semifinals of the Sequoias Gilcrest Invitational. The Mustangs lead the Big 8 Conference at 7-0 and happen to be the state's highest scoring team at 84.6 points per contest, including four times reaching triple digits. Delta has never won a state title but is a leading contender at least in January.

Moorpark, last year's state runner-up, picked up the other three first-place votes by sports information directors. The Raiders (17-1) are second in the state in scoring at 82.1 points average and have won nine straight since its lone defeat, 56-54, to #9 Merced at the Fresno City Tournament. Moorpark has the state's leading defense as well, allowing just 47.8 points per game. 

Mt. San Jacinto (18-2), 2018 state champs, is poised to make another run after starting out the season 1-2 with losses to Moorpark and #4 Palomar. Since the setbacks, the Eagles are tied for the state's current longest win streak of 17 games while also leading the inaugural season of the Inland Empire Athletic Conference at 5-0.

Palomar (17-2) just had an 11-game win streak snapped in an upset defeat v. #17 MiraCosta, 55-51. The Comets only other loss was v. Moorpark (75-66) back in November. Glendale (17-1) settles in at #5 with the other current 17-game win streak still going. The Vaqueros lost their '19-20 season opener v. unranked Fresno City and haven't looked back.

Defending state champion Diablo Valley (15-3) stands at #6 but were hammered by Delta, 101-81, last week and also has a 19-point loss to #16 Pasadena City in mid-December at the LA Harbor Tournament. Irvine Valley (15-2) is #7 despite losses to #11 Ventura (62-51) and unranked LA Valley (51-49). 

Mt. San Antonio (15-5), winners of eight state titles between 2004-2017, always is part of any discussion of top teams and is #8 in the opening poll. The Mounties have no answers, though, against the Western State Conference North Division duo of Moorpark and Vent
ura with four of their losses coming against the pair (0-2 v. each). 

Merced (15-5), a state semifinalist a year ago, has an early lead in the Central Valley Conference race and is rated #9. The Blue Devils have hit the century mark in scoring four times and are on a 5-game win streak since a 14-point loss to #14 Chabot on Dec. 28. Rounding out the top 10 at #10 is Sierra (14-5), one of three Big 8 teams among the elite 10. The Wolverines have an early-season win over Merced, but have two losses already v. top-rated Delta and a recent 15-point loss to Diablo Valley.

Ventura (14-4), state champs seven times from 1996 thru 2014, is #11. The Pirates opened the season on a 12-game win streak but are just 2-4 since that string with losses to Glendale, unranked Canyons, Mt. San Jacinto, and unranked but very tough LA Trade Tech, 72-61, on Jan. 11. Ventura has the state's #2 defense at 49.8 points allowed average.

Cypress (14-3) is #12 behind a current 8-game win streak after losing in overtime to #15 East Los Angeles, 79-76, in early December. 

One of the surprise stories of 2019-2020 thus far is yet another strong team that has developed in the powerful South Coast Conference North Division in #13 Rio Hondo (15-5). The SCC North features #8 Mt. SAC, the Roadrunners, then #15 ELAC (14-6) and #16 Pasadena (13-5). Trade Tech was only a few points from all five conference squads reaching the first state top 20. But the Beavers (13-7) are the 2-time defending conference champions in that group.

Also making the grade in the SIA Top 20 were #14 Chabot, #17 MiraCosta, another up-and-comer in College of the Redwoods at #18, usual North stalwart City College of San Francisco at #19, and the third WSC North team in the listing in Santa Barbara City at #20.  

In a look at the current RPI in state women's basketball, five teams not on the first ranking are in the top 20 in CCC RPI in Skyline (12th), Butte (16th), Fresno (17th), Trade Tech (19th), and Lassen (20th). The lowest RPI team that made the rankings is Santa Barbara, currently 39th despite its .800 win percentage.