Friday, Nov. 25, 2011

LB girls tourney boasts playoff teams

Eight-team field includes state quarterfinalists, others

A lot of good high school girls basketball teams will hit Los Banos on Thursday when Los Banos High hosts the three-day Los Banos Booster Tournament.

"It was kind of wide open," Los Banos coach Danny Crosby said. "It's a first-year tournament, and we just kind of made it an invitational for any teams looking for a tournament to get in."

It went better than expected, with just two of the eight teams in the tournament coming off of losing seasons in 2010-11 -- Oakdale was 7-15 and Millennium of Tracy was 7-14.

All six of the other teams made the playoffs, at the very least. LB was 17-11 and went out in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section D-II playoffs and Seaside (16-11) went out in the first round of the Central Coast Section D-III playoffs. After that comes three Division I playoff teams in Modesto (19-7) and McNair (23-7) of the SJS and Carlmont (17-9) of Belmont, another Central Coast Section team.

Then comes Modesto Christian (25-9), which won the SJS D-IV playoffs last year and advanced to the state D-IV semifinals before falling.

"Any team we put up against is going to be a battle," Crosby said. "It was difficult to do a bracket to make it fair to everyone."

Thursday's games start with Millenium and Modesto at 3:30 p.m., followed by Los Banos and Oakdale at 4:45 p.m., Seaside and Modesto Christian at 6 p.m. and McNair and Carlmont at 7:30 p.m. Los Banos will play the winner or loser of Seaside/Modesto Christian at 6 or 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The tournament also features a junior varsity bracket with LB, Buhach Colony, Modesto, McNair, Carlmont, Hilmar, Oakdale and Atwater. Los Banos' first game in the JV bracket is at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at (209) 388-6565 or by email at sports@losbanos

enterprise.com.

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at (209) 388-6565 or by email at sports@losbanosenterprise.com.