The Sonoma County League begins its post season on Wednesday night with one Boys game and then plays the other three on Thursday. The winners will meet on Championship Night at SRJC on Saturday Night.
The game on Wednesday night is between Petaluma and Piner. On Thursday they will play both of the Girls games, along with the other Boys match-up. Included on the Thursday schedule is a Girls-Boys Doubleheader at Analy. Both the Analy teams will be hosting Healdsburg with the Girls game starting at 6:30. The other girls’ game will be Thursday at 7 pm with Sonoma Valley hosting Petaluma.

The Wednesday Boys game will begin at 7 pm at Piner High School. It’s a matchup between the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds. Petaluma and Piner actually tied for second place in the SCL race, one game behind league champion Analy. Piner got the home game because they drew the right number at the beginning of the season.
For the Boys, Piner and Petaluma split their league games both winning on their home court. In the two games, Petaluma outscored Piner by one point.
This is the fourth season that Piner has been in the Sonoma County League since realignment and they have been in the Post Season Tournament every season. Last year, they defeated regular season champion Elsie Allen in the championship game, to win their first ever Sonoma County League Post Season Tournament. When they were in the NBL, they won the post season tournament five times, including three straight from 1998-2000.
While Piner lives in this tournament since they joined the league, the last time Petaluma was in the tournament was when Piner was still in the NBL. That was 2009 when Petaluma finished second and beat Casa Grande in the first round and lost to Analy (who else) in the championship game.
On Thursday, the only one not at Analy is the Girls game with Petaluma going to Sonoma Valley.
This post season tournament began in 1989 and on the Girls side Petaluma has won the most with ten, including the last two. This isn’t the normal Petaluma team, except for the name. They are 9-16 on the season which is the first time they’ve finished under .500 since 2012 when they went 9-15. That season they didn’t make any playoff action. In the last three seasons their worst record is 19-11. The program has hit the twenty win mark in six of the last ten seasons. In that time they won the post season tournament five times.
Sonoma Valley tied for the league championship with Analy. It is the second straight season they have won a league championship. Before last season, they hadn’t won a league championship since 1984. Sonoma Valley has won the post season tournament once and that was in 1995.
That leaves the Healdsburg-Analy doubleheader. Both are No. 1 vs. No. 4 in the seedings, although on the Girls side the tiebreaker decided both ends. Analy and Sonoma Valley tied for first and Petaluma and Healdsburg tied for third.
The fact that the Analy Girls are here, on the surface, isn’t a surprise. They usually are in this tournament. Analy has won the Regular Season Championship five times in the last eleven seasons. They have been in this tournament all but three of those seasons.
The Analy Girls team got a dose of reality in the off season, too big of a dose. In June, head coach Tom Corriveau died suddenly at the age of 57. After taking some time to try to shake that off, Earl Pasamonte retook the helm. Pasamonte had retired in 2011 from coaching after being head man for four seasons. Six years before that he coached for the JV team. He thought Corriveau would be,”a perfect fit”, to replace him. He seemed to be right about that. Over the last two seasons Analy went 36-23 overall and 21-3 in league play, including an undefeated run in 2014.
It didn’t take long for him to take the job and he kept the assistants that Corriveau had. They got off to a shaky start losing four of the first five and seven of ten. They were 5-9 going into league play. They lost one game in league and that was the second meeting with Sonoma Valley.
Healdsburg had a couple of near misses in the first half, losing an overtime game to Analy and a four point game to Sonoma Valley. Both those games were on the road.
The Healdsburg Girls have won this tournament eight times, which is second most in the league. The last time was in 2004. They have made this tournament the last four seasons and have lost the first round game all four years. They have reached the twenty win mark for the first time since 2006.
We are used to seeing the Analy Boys team  in this tournament too. They have won the league regular season title six of the last eight seasons. They have also won three of the last four and four of the last six post season tournaments.
Analy finished 10-2 in league play with one of the losses on the road to Healdsburg. Since finishing 22-7 in 2013, Healdsburg has gone 12-40 the last two seasons and 4-20 in SCL play, so they have made a nice comeback.
If you base it on the league race, this should be a good tournament on both sides.
The winner of these games will meet in the championship game at SRJC on Saturday.
SCL BOYS
WEDNESDAY 7 PM
No. 3 Petaluma (16-8, 9-3) at No. 2 Piner (14-10, 9-3)
THURSDAY 8 PM
No. 4 Healdsburg (15-11, 6-6) at No. 1 Analy (19-7, 10-2)
SCL GIRLS
THURSDAY 6:30
No. 4 Healdsburg (20-6, 7-5) at No. 1 Analy (16-10, 11-1)
THURSDAY 7 PM
No. 3 Petaluma (9-16, 7-5) at No. 2 Sonoma Valley (18-8, 11-1)
NBL GIRLS FIRST ROUND
For the third straight season Cardinal Newman will meet Santa Rosa in the NBL Post Season Tournament Championship. Cardinal Newman has won the first two and is a big favorite to win number three.
Avery Cargil scored 16 points as Cardinal Newman defeated Montgomery 77-35. Cargill was one of four in double figures for the Cardinals, who are now 22-4 on the season.
The other semi-final was closer. Santa Rosa pulled away in the fourth quarter and defeated Ukiah 50-38. Santa Rosa outscored Ukiah 11-3 in the fourth quarter to put things away. Emily Codding led Santa Rosa with 15 points. Santa Rosa is now 17-10.
Despite the losses Montgomery and Ukiah will both get a spot in the NCS Division 2 playoffs and they could both get a first round home game.
The championship night for the North Bay League will be Friday at Piner High. The Girls game will start at 6:30.
It is the Boys turn tonight with No. 4 Ukiah at No. 1 Windsor and No. 3 Montgomery at No. 2 Cardinal Newman. The championship game will be after the Girls Championship game on Friday Night.
NCL I ENDS REGULAR SEASON
For the second straight season and fifth in nine seasons, Cloverdale is the NCL I champion. Cloverdale wrapped up the title with a 75-54 win over Fort Bragg. Jayson McMillan led the Eagles with 19 points. He was one of four players who scored in double figures.
Cloverdale ends the regular season 22-4 and a seven game winning streak.
It turned out that Cloverdale didn’t need the win. That is because Clear Lake rallied to defeat second place Lower Lake 79-70,
On the Girls side, Kelseyville and Middletown both won and they end up in a first place tie,
This weekend is the post season tournament. It is schedule to be at Mendocino College in Ukiah, although there are reports that it might not be played, so stay tuned. The first round is schedule for Friday. The Boys first round games are Kelseyville vs. Cloverdale and Fort Bragg vs. Lower Lake. On the Girls side the first round is also Kelseyville vs. Cloverdale with the other one Middletown vs. Clear Lake.
On the Girls side, since Middletown and Kelseyville tied for first, who does the best in the tournament will get the automatic bid in the NCS playoffs, which would probably mean a home game.
On the Boys side, Cloverdale has already earned the automatic bid.
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net