Girls basketball teams jockey for playoff position

With only three days left in the girls basketball regular season, only two playoff spots remain up for grabs in Southern Nevada.
But that doesn’t mean there’s not still a lot of jockeying for position that could take place.

Playoffs begin in Class 4A and Class 1A on Wednesday. In Southern Nevada, 14 of the 16 Class 4A playoff spots have been secured with one spot in the Northwest League and one in the Southeast League still to be determined.

Following is a breakdown of the playoff races and brief looks at the tiebreakers for each league. Final pairings will be posted on Nevadapreps.com as soon as they’re made official by the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.

CLASS 4A

The top four teams in the Northwest and Southwest leagues qualify for the Sunset Region playoffs. The top two teams in each league host a quarterfinal game on Feb. 18. The semifinals are Feb. 19 and the championship Feb. 20, both at Palo Verde.

The top four teams in the Northeast and Southeast leagues qualify for the Sunrise Region playoffs. The top two teams in each league host a quarterfinal game on Feb. 18. The semifinals are Feb. 19 and the championship Feb. 20, both at Liberty.

SUNSET REGION
NORTHWEST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Centennial (13-0), Palo Verde (11-2) and Legacy (7-6).

Who still can get in: Mojave (6-7) and Cheyenne (5-8).

Who’s out: Cimarron-Memorial (5-8), Arbor View (4-9) and Shadow Ridge (1-12).

Breakdown: Centennial and Palo Verde have locked up the No. 1 and 2 spots, respectively, with no possibilities of a tie.

Legacy has the No. 3 seed because it swept Mojave, the only team that still could tie the Longhorns.

That leaves just the No. 4 seed up for grabs between Mojave and Cheyenne, which play each other Thursday at Mojave.

A Mojave wins wraps up the playoff spot for the Rattlers. But if Cheyenne wins, either team still could get in.

Cimarron-Memorial remains a factor even though it can’t make the playoffs. The Spartans could get into a three-way tie with Mojave and Cheyenne. If that happens, Mojave, which went 2-0 against Cimarron and will have split against Cheyenne, gets the No. 4 seed.

If Cimarron loses and Cheyenne beats Mojave, the Desert Shields are in based on the second tiebreaker, which is points for beaten opponents. See the NIAA’s Web site (www.niaa.com) for a further explanation on this tiebreaker.

SOUTHWEST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Bishop Gorman (15-0), Bonanza (12-3), Durango (12-4), Sierra Vista (10-5).

Who’s out: Pahrump Valley (8-7), Spring Valley (4-11), Desert Oasis (3-12), Western (3-12) and Clark (1-14).

Breakdown: Gorman has locked up the No. 1 seed. Sierra Vista is locked into the No. 4 seed.

Bonanza clinches the No. 2 seed with a win at Sierra Vista on Friday.

If Sierra Vista wins, Durango and Bonanza would tie for second at 12-4. The teams split their head-to-head meetings. Durango, which beat Sierra Vista twice, would win the tiebreaker on beaten opponents’ points. A Bonanza loss to Sierra Vista on Friday would mean the Bengals beat Sierra Vista only once this season.

Sunset quarterfinal matchups:

Mojave or Cheyenne at Bishop Gorman
Legacy at Southwest No. 2.
Southwest No. 3 at Palo Verde
Sierra Vista at Centennial

SUNRISE REGION

NORTHEAST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Desert Pines (11-0), Valley (9-2), Las Vegas (7-5) and Eldorado (6-5).

Who’s out: Rancho (3-8), Chaparral (2-9) and Canyon Springs (1-10).

Breakdown: The top two spots have been locked up with Desert Pines claiming the top seed and Valley also getting a home game.

Eldorado must beat Desert Pines on Friday to claim the No. 3 seed. Eldorado and Las Vegas split regular-season meetings, but a win over the top team in the league would give the Sundevils the edge in beaten opponents’ points.

If Eldorado loses, Las Vegas will be the No. 3 seed and Eldorado the No. 4.

SOUTHEAST LEAGUE

Who’s in: Green Valley (13-0), Silverado (12-1) and Liberty (9-4) .

Who still can get in: Coronado (6-7) and Foothill (5-8).

Who’s out: Tech (4-9), Basic (3-10) and Del Sol (0-13).

Breakdown: The only team in this league with its playoff fate known is Liberty, which has wrapped up the No. 3 seed.

Green Valley hosts Silverado on Thursday in a winner-take-all game for the No. 1 seed in the league. Green Valley won the first meeting, so a Silverado win would force a tie and send the teams down the tiebreaker list to the third spot — which favors the team that wins the second meeting. In this case, it would be Silverado.

If Green Valley wins, it’s the No. 1 seed and Silverado the No. 2. If Silverado wins, the Skyhawks are the No. 1 seed and Green Valley the No. 2.

The No. 4 seed might not even be determined Thursday.

Coronado has a one-game lead and wraps up the spot with a win over Basic or a Foothill loss to Del Sol.

But if the Cougars lose and Foothill wins, the teams tie for fourth at 6-8.

They split regular-season meetings and will have beaten the same teams the same number of times. Under NIAA rules, the second-meeting tiebreaker that could be applied to Green Valley and Silverado, can’t be applied here because the loser of this tiebreaker would miss the playoffs.

Instead, a play-in game would be needed. So, if Foothill and Coronado both end up 6-8, they’ll meet on Saturday to decide which team gets to play Desert Pines in the playoffs.

Confused yet?

Quarterfinal matchups:

Coronado or Foothill at Desert Pines
Liberty at Valley
Northeast No. 3 at Southeast No. 2
Northeast No. 4 at Southeast No. 1

The two region champions advance to state. The two region runners-up will face each other, likely on Feb. 23, with that winner earning the South’s third state bid.

3A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

All four teams in the league qualify for the playoffs. The semifinals are Feb. 19 at Desert Oasis. The title game is Feb. 21, also at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: Everyone ... it’s a four-team league.

Breakdown: Virgin Valley (5-0) has clinched the top seed and will play Faith Lutheran (0-5) in one semifinal.

Boulder City (3-2) and Moapa Valley (3-2) will meet in the other semifinal. Neither team has yet clinched the No. 2 seed, which only matters in terms of jersey color and which bench they’ll occupy in Desert Oasis’ gym.

Semifinal pairings:

Faith Lutheran vs. Virgin Valley
Boulder City vs. Moapa Valley
The semifinal winners both get a state tournament bid.

2A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

The top four teams advance to the league semifinals, which will be held Feb. 20 at Desert Oasis. The title game is Feb. 21, also at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: Lincoln County (11-1), Needles (11-1), Mountain View (10-3) and White Pine (7-5).

Who’s out: Calvary Chapel (4-8), West Wendover (4-8), Agassi Prep (2-10) and The Meadows (0-13).

Breakdown: White Pine is the No. 4 seed for the tournament, but none of the other three spots has been determined.

Lincoln County and Needles still must face each other at Needles. Lincoln County won the first matchup and would wrap up the No. 1 seed if it can complete the sweep.

Needles’ other remaining game is with Mountain View on Thursday, so a lot still can happen. The Saints will be in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 semifinal against either Needles or Lincoln County, but it’s not yet certain which seed they’ll have. Thursday’s result will clarify the playoff picture here.

Semifinal pairings:

White Pine vs. No. 1 seed
Mountain View vs. No. 2 or No. 3 seed
Both finalists advance to state.

1A SOUTHERN LEAGUE

The top eight teams qualify for the quarterfinals, with the top four teams earning a home game on Feb. 18. The semifinals are set for Feb. 20 at Durango, with the title game set for Feb. 21 at Desert Oasis.

Who’s in: Lund (8-0), Pahranagat Valley (7-1), Round Mountain (7-1), Tonopah (5-3), Beatty (5-3), Lake Mead (4-4), Trinity (2-6) and Henderson International (2-7).

Who’s out: Sandy Valley (0-7) and Indian Springs (0-8).

Breakdown: Lund has locked up the No. 1 seed as it beat Pahranagat Valley and Round Mountain.

Pahranagat hosts Round Mountain on Friday with the winner getting the No. 2 seed and the loser taking the No. 3 seed.

Beatty, which beat Tonopah, will earn the No. 4 seed if it beats Lake Mead on Friday.

Tonopah needs a win over Lund and a Beatty loss to Lake Mead to claim the No. 4 seed.

It gets really confusing if Lake Mead tops Beatty and Lund beats Tonopah, creating a three-way tie at 5-4. If that happens, point differential in the teams’ head-to-head games would come into play. Beatty currently holds the edge there, but Lake Mead still could grab the No. 4 seed if it beats Beatty by at least six points.

Beatty, Lake Mead and Tonopah in some order will occupy seeds No. 4, 5 and 6.

Trinity, a winner over Henderson International earlier this season, has clinched the No. 7 seed.

Henderson International has locked up a trip to Lund for the quarterfinals.

Quarterfinal pairings:

Henderson International at Lund
Trinity at Pahranagat Valley or Round Mountain
No. 6 seed at Pahranagat Valley or Round Mountain
No. 5 seed at No. 4 seed
The semifinal winners head to state.