Sports
Windward Hoops Ready for State Playoffs
The boys and girls are both seeded No. 2 and host games Thursday night.
Following the Windward School girls' basketball team's triumph over Torrance Bishop Montgomery in the Southern Section Division 4AA championship game last week at the Anaheim Convention Center, Wildcats coach Steve Smith said he expected his team to receive the No. 2 seed for the state playoffs.
Sure enough, when the CIF brackets were released Sunday afternoon, Windward was indeed seeded No. 2 in the 16-team Southern California Regional. Top seeds are La Jolla Country Day, the San Diego Section Division 4 champions that beat Windward twice during the regular season.
"They beat us [71-53] in their own tournament in early December and they beat us [45-39] in the Nike Tournament of Champions at the end of December," said Smith. "We had a really good chance to win the second one, so we're dying for another crack at them."
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For that to happen, both teams will need to reach the regional final because they are on opposite sides of the draw. Smith's team is using the losses, which account for half of the squads losses this season, as motivation to reach the championship game at USC's Galen Center.
"They're a good team but we definitely think we can beat them if we play them again," Imani Stafford said after scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the Wildcats' 68-46 victory over Bishop Montgomery. "It's the challenge in front of us. Hopefully, we both make it."
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Windward (25-4) had a bye in the first round and hosts Westlake Village Oaks Christian, the Southern Section Division 4A runner-up, in the second round at 5:15 p.m. Thursday at its Mar Vista campus. The Lions (25-8) routed Duarte 73-35 in the first round Tuesday.
Meanwhile, despite coming up short in the Southern Section Division 4AA final to Orange Lutheran a week ago, the Windward boys' squad was also seeded second behind Lutheran for the regional tournament. The Wildcats (23-8) will host Sherman Oaks Buckley after the girls' game, which starts at 7:30 pm at Windward.
Senior forward Wesley Saunders hopes the boys can make up for their loss in the section playoffs by winning the state championship along with the girls. "We're definitely pulling for each other," he said. "Seeing them win [CIF] makes us want to win state even more. Hopefully we can both do it."
