Fresh off a stirring Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship, the Half Moon Bay girls basketball team was rewarded with a Central Coast Section Open Division berth on Wednesday.
With it, comes an automatic bid into the CIF Northern California championships, where the Cougars won a Division 4 title last season.
That's the good news.
The bad news is the eighth-seeded Cougars (19-5) open CCS Open Pool A play Friday at Mitty (22-2), the nation's No. 3 team according to the MaxPreps computer rankings. The other Pool A game pits fifth-seed St. Francis (18-6) at No. 4 St. Ignatius (18-6). Both games tip off at 6 p.m.
In Pool B action, No. 7 Alisal-Salinas (22-2) travels to No. 2 Woodside Priory (19-5) at 7 p.m. and third-seed Riordan (15-7) hosts No. 6 Pinewood-Los Altos Hills (20-4) at 6 p.m.
Each pool entry is guaranteed three games with the winners of each to face off for the championship Feb. 27 at USF. All CCS playoff pairings were announced on Wednesday.
Half Moon Bay, which lost 48-40 in the state D4 championship to Whitney-Cerrito last season, clinched the league title with a 52-44 home win over Menlo-Atherton on Saturday behind 20 points from Xochitl Nieves (13 coming in the fourth quarter) and 16 from Zoey Lemoge.
Lemoge, a 6-foot senior, had 18 points and 18 rebounds in last season's state final. On Friday, she'll largely be responsible for guarding McDonald's All-American and two-time Chronicle Metro Player of the Year McKenna Woliczko, who hasn't missed a beat since coming back from a torn ACL which kept her out of play for a calendar year.
The 6-2 Iowa signee finished her senior regular season with a 24-point, 18-rebound performance in 15 minutes of Mitty's 74-31 win over St. Francis on Tuesday. Woliczko, who returned Jan. 2, averaged 22.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game in West Catholic Athletic League play, while shooting 74% from the field, 81% from the foul line and 38% on 3-pointers.
She's hardly a one-person squad, though, as the Monarchs are blessed with numerous future college players, including seniors Devin Cosgriff (Michigan-signee) and Emma Cook (UC San Diego). Sophomore Maliya Hunter, the 2025 WCAL Player of the Year, and juniors Ze'ni Patterson, Tee McCarthy and Zi Patterson are other top recruits.
The CCS playoffs begin for boys and girls in all six divisions on Friday. Other top girls seeds are Menlo-Atherton (Division 1), Valley Christian (D2), Mills-Milbrae (D3), Notre Dame-Belmont (D4) and Palma-Salinas (D5).
CCS boys: Coming off Riordan's remarkable 100-95 double-overtime win over St. Ignatius to close the WCAL season on Tuesday, the two teams are the top seeded Open Division teams entering pool play Friday.
Riordan (23-1) opens Pool A play at home against WCAL rival Serra (13-11) at 7:30 p.m., while No. 5 The King's Academy-Sunnyvale (21-3) plays at No. 4 Bellarmine (16-8). In pool B action, St. Ignatius (21-3) hosts No. 7 Menlo-Atherton (23-3) and No. 6 Valley Christian (14-10) plays at No. 3 Mitty (15-9). Both of those games start at 7:30 p.m.
NCS boys: In North Coast Section Division 2 play on Wednesday, Thomas Meehleib had 31 points and six assists, Sam Newmeyer added 20 points and Lucas Lau contributed 17 points and nine assists as top-seed and host University opened with a 95-66 win over Pinole Valley. University (24-5) hosts Casa Grande-Petaluma (21-8), a 74-49 winner over Lick-Wilmerding, Saturday in quarterfinal play at 7 p.m. … David Isola had 36 points and Sammy Cetoute added 20 for Casa Grande in its first-round win. … Salesian-Richmond transfer Ronnie Selleaze had 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists leading seventh-seed San Lorenzo to a 65-55 first-round win over Heritage-Brentwood. San Lorenzo (17-10) now travels to second-seed Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa (27-2), a 61-45 winner over Justin-Siena-Napa. AJ Cole and Zion Cargill combined for 23 points for Cardinal Newman, which has won 21 straight. … Sophomore Mahal McBride had 20 points leading 11th seed El Cerrito (23-6) to a 59-53 win at No. 6 McKinleyville (Humboldt County). The Gauchos next play St. Mary's-Berkeley (18-10), a 77-60 home winner over Pittsburg.
NCS girls: In D2 play on Wednesday, Lauren Keller had 19 points, Caiden Grimmer 13 and Haven Stone 11 leading third-seed Justin-Siena to a 67-38 win over Washington-San Francisco. … Fourth-seed University (18-11) dropped a 48-44 home game to No. 13 Sonoma Valley (21-8), which was led by Alice Turner's 19 points. … Defending state D3 champion Marin Catholic-Kentfield (12-14), the seventh seed, upended No. 10 Ukiah 49-41 behind 14 points from Brooke Spagnuolo. Marin Catholic now travels to second-seed Moreau Catholic-Hayward (21-6), a 72-36 winner over Fortuna behind 33 points by Mahlaysia Atkins.
Freelance writer Mitch Stephens has covered high school sports for the Chronicle since 2001. Email: [email protected]
This article originally published at Half Moon Bay girls given monumental task in CCS Open Division basketball opener.