The Zulkster's State Tournament Predictions

I wanted to get my bracket prediction out before they are officially posted on Sunday.   This is my "BEST GUESS" not the actually brackets.

I will post a blog of the game vs Brookside sometime on Sunday.

So here they are:

I have studied the film, not really, and will now make my predictions for the seeding of the tournament.  This is based on looking at the play-off results from the four sections that participate in the Northern California bracket of the California State Girls Division 5 Tournament.  TC could play Rincon Valley Christian (best case) or East Side Prep of East Palo Alto (worst case).  Both of these teams are really good.

#1 Pinewood (24-5) - Central Coast Section Champions (CCS) - 1st Round Bye

#12 Turlock Christian (21-9) - Sac Joaquin Section (SJS) - Semi- Finalist
vs
#5 Rincon Valley Christian - Santa Rosa (29-3) - North Coast Section (NCS) - 2nd Place (155 mile drive - 2.5 to 3 hour drive)

#7 Brookside Christian (25-6) - SJS 2nd Place
vs
#10 Sonoma Academy (25-5) - NCS - Semi-Finalist

#4 Hamilton (24-4) - NS - Champion - 1st Round Bye

#3 Bradshaw Christian (22-9) - SJS Champions - 1st Round Bye

#8 Portola (25-4) - North Section (NS) - 2nd Place
vs
#9 Convent of Sacred Heart (19-10) - NCS Semi-Finalist

#6 Eastside Prep (21-8) - CCS 2nd Place
vs
#11 Vacaville Christian (20-10) - SJS Semi-Finalist

#2 St. Joe's / Norte Dame (22-4) - Alameda - NCS Champions - 1st Round Bye

Wilton Wilts vs Lady Eagles

The game, on paper, seemed to be a perfect match.  Wilton had taken TC to the hole when they met at the Bradshaw Tournament in December and just came up short losing 39-47 to the Eagles.  The good game that Wilton dreamed of ended up just being a nightmare for the Lady Patriots as they fell behind 43-20 by halftime and ended losing 35-64.  The one dimensional aspect of Wilton's offence, Kendra Jeffcott does everything and the rest of the team hopes its enough, didn't work to well against the aggressive defense of the Eagles.  The first half pretty much took any fight out of Wilton and the second half was just an opportunity for everyone to play a lot.

Outstanding Performance:

Leading Scorers:  Kaisa Spycher (15), Molly Farrar (12), Natalie Synder (11), Rebekah Muller (9), and Kara Gabrielson (8).
Leading Rebounders: Marly Burton (15), Molly Farrar (9), and Kaisa (7).
Steal Leaders: Becca (5), Molly F and Natalie (3 each).
Assist Leaders: Molly F (5), Becca and Nat (4 each) and Kara (3).

The Lady Eagles face the 2nd ranked team in the play-offs this afternoon.  Brook side is one of the highest scoring teams in the state and does it all with only 6 players.  Fatigue and fouls would seem to be there weakness but that has not happened.  The two teams have played 2 common opponents, Elliot Christian lost to TC by 48 points and to Brookside by 49 points, Patterson, on the other hand, was crushed by Brookside but only beaten by the Eagles.  The Patterson games were early in the year and TC had differently become a much better team since then.  All the pundits give a very large edge to the Knights of Brookside.  It is an interesting match-up, Brookside with a team recruited from the "travel" ball world, including their coach and TC with a home grown team that includes four seniors who have attended TC for 13 years.

To see a comparison of the two teams click "I want to see a comparison :-)".

Make the drive to Galt and support the team.  Tip-off is at 4 PM.

Click here to find direction.

Elliot No Match For Eagles

The TC Lady Eagles began the play-offs with an impressive win in the battle of the Eagles, beating Elliot Christian by a 78-30 score.  The Lady Eagles out gunned and out hustled the over-matched ECers.  Elliot made no effort to slow down the Eagles with any type of pressure and just hung on for the play-off ride.  It was apparent that they felt there was no hope of a victory as the Elliot coaches made no attempt at disrupting TC's offence.  The Eagles of Elliot went down without a fight.

Outstanding performances included:

Molly Farrar with a rare triple-double scoring 14 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists.
Molly Burton with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Kaisa Spycher with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Natalie Snyder with 21 points to lead the team and 4 assists.
Kara Gabrielson with 6 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Rebekah Muller with 10 points and 2 blocked shots.
Molly Zuhlke with 4 points and 10 rebounds.

The girls played the second round on Thursday.