All of that should make the boys’ basketball postseason very interesting when considering the valley’s perspective.One marquee matchup in the girls’ basketball first round features two valley schools: Coachella Valley at Desert Christian Academy in Division 3A. But other matchups look interesting as well, such as the Palm Springs boys opening in 2A at West […]
All of that should make the boys’ basketball postseason very interesting when considering the valley’s perspective.One marquee matchup in the girls’ basketball first round features two valley schools: Coachella Valley at Desert Christian Academy in Division 3A. But other matchups look interesting as well, such as the Palm Springs boys opening in 2A at West Ranch, just north of the San Fernando Valley.5A: Indio at Riverside Prep
3AA: Desert Christian Academy at Beckman5AA: Eisenhower at Palm ValleyCheck back for updates on times, which can be changed between now and Wednesday.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL(All games at 7 p.m. unless teams agree to change)In addition, the three teams that shared the Desert Empire League title (Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and Rancho Mirage) will all get to see if they can make a deep postseason run when CIF-SS playoff games begin Wednesday.
For full pairings that include matchups for boys’ and girls’ soccer and water polo, click here.5AA: Desert Hot Springs at Anaheim3A: Coachella Valley at Desert Christian Academy
Wednesday’s games
Then there’s Desert Christian Academy, who is coming off a league title and has the highest-scoring player in the Coachella Valley in Augustine Youssef, who finished with a season-high 48 points in his last game.4A: Nogales at La Quinta3A: Coastal Christian at Palm Desert2A: Rancho Mirage at Rio Mesa5AA: Diamond Ranch at Desert Chapel2AA: South Torrance at Shadow Hills5A: Hesperia Christian at Coachella ValleyBOYS’ BASKETBALL(All games at 7 p.m. unless teams agree to change)2A: Palm Springs at West RanchThis year marks the first time high school basketball teams in the CIF-SS did not know their division before the release of the pairings. The CIF-SS office paired teams up how other sports have been paired in recent years, by considering many factors that go into a rankings system of every team in the Southern Section.
Thursday’s games
3A: Poly at Twentynine Palms
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.3AA: Jordan at Palm DesertAndrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.Desert Hot Springs High School won a boys’ basketball league title for the first time in school history, and Coachella Valley High won a boys’ basketball title for the first time since 1987. This week, both programs will bring those historic regular seasons into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.In the girls’ brackets, which begin Thursday, Shadow Hills opens the postseason in the 2A Division, the highest in the valley. The Knights won the DEL by an average margin of victory of 51 points. It’ll be interesting to see if they can carry that dominance into the playoffs.That also means that teams that won league titles were not guaranteed home playoff games in the first round.
