Windward Basketball in Defense Mode

Coming off its dramatic 82-77 triple-overtime defeat to Gardena Serra in the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA championship game last Wednesday night at the Anaheim Convention Center, the Windward School girls basketball team begins the final phase of the season: the state playoffs.

Coach Steve Smith's squad won the Division IV state crown last March by defeating Northern California regional champion Albany St. Mary's, 51-47, in the finals at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento. On Wednesday, the Wildcats begin their title defense at home Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Tollhouse Sierra, co-champ of the North Sequoia League.

Windward (27-4) is seeded third out of 15 teams in the Southern California Division IV regional. The Chieftains (18-9), meanwhile, were Central Section semifinalists, losing 56-52 to runner-up Lindsay on Feb. 29. Sierra averages 48.9 points per game behind forwards Amanda Bewick (7.6 ppg) and Casey Stark (7.2 pg).

Should the Wildcats prevail they will advance to a quarterfinal matchup against Southern Section 4A semifinalist Santa Fe Springs St. Paul (17-14) or No. 6 La Jolla Bishop's (19-9), the San Diego Section runner-up, on Saturday night.

The ball distribution of sophomore point guard Jordin Canada, who had 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the upset loss to Gardena Serra, will be a key against Sierra because the Wildcats will need balanced scoring from Courtney Jaco, Troye Mosley, Kristen Simon, Paris Baird, Imani Stafford and Macchiati Smith.

Serra (27-3) is seeded second and could meet Windward again in the semifinals. San Diego Section champion La Jolla Country Day (29-1), which fell to the Wildcats in last year's regional final, is the No. 1 seed and thus has a first-round bye. Country Day would not face Windward until the regional finals March 17 at Colony High.

Here are Wednesday's CIF SoCal Regional Division IV first-round games:

No. 1 La Jolla Country Day (San Diego IV champion), bye

Campbell Hall (Southern 4A champion) at No. 8 Elizabeth (City Small Schools runner-up)

Los Angeles Baptist (Southern 4A semifinalist) at No. 5 Bell-Jeff (Southern 4AA semifinalist)

Lindsay (Central IV runner-up) at No. 4 St. Bernard (Southern 4AA semifinalist)

Tollhouse Sierra (Central IV semifinalist) at No. 3 Windward (Southern 4AA runner-up)

St. Paul (Southern 4A semifinalist) at No. 6 La Jolla Bishop's (San Diego IV runner-up)

Brentwood (Southern 4A runner-up) at No. 7 Fresno San Joaquin Memorial  (Central IV champion)

Parlier (Central IV semifinalist) at No. 2 Serra (Southern 4AA champion)