Had to get the paring knife out and make some cosmetic changes to this week’s PennLive girls’ basketball Class A state rankings.
First off — boom, hello — undefeated Millville, the District 4 champ, crashes into the top 10, along with District 10 champ Bishop Guilfoyle.
Millville, Neumann-Goretti (25-0 in Class AA) and Hickory (25-0 in Class AAA) are your lone undefeated teams heading into the state tournament.
Our objective this week was to reward as many district champs and teams that continue to enjoy hot seasons as possible heading into the PIAA playoffs.
Class A has been a very crowded classification since December, so shifting these teams around every week has not been easy. Please know that.
It was even trickier this week when previously undefeated Port Allegany, Portage, Berlin Brothersvalley and California all fell in their respective district playoffs.
That meant bumps for District 5 champ Southern Fulton, District 10 champ Kennedy Catholic, District 2 champ Old Forge and District 11 champ Marian Catholic.
We also popped Serra Catholic into the 2-spot after the Eagles reached the WPIAL finale, and fell to No. 1 Vincentian Academy, which remained atop our Class A rankings from the preseason through the district playoffs.
All three other classes had at least two teams occupy the No. 1 slot at some point this season.
Vincentian and Serra were 1-2 for a good chunk of this season, and that’s where they’ll be heading into the PIAA tourney.
Here is the Class A top 10 and honorable mention picks, with overall records heading into the state playoffs and home district in parenthesis …
1. Vincentian Academy (7) 22-3 — previously: 1
2. Serra Catholic (7) 23-3 — previously 3
3. Southern Fulton (5) 23-3 — previously: 5
4. Kennedy Catholic (10) 21-2 — previously: 6
5. Old Forge (2) 19-3 — previously: 7
6. Marian Catholic (11) 24-2 — previously: 8
7. Port Allegany (9) 23-1 — previously: 2
8. Portage (6) 23-2 — previously: 4
9. Millville (4) 24-0 — previously: NR
10. Bishop Guilfoyle (6) 20-5 — previously: HM
HONORABLE MENTION
Berlin Brothersvalley (5) 21-4; Bishop Carroll (6) 11-12; California (7) 19-4; Clarion (9) 20-6; Claysburg-Kimmel (6) 20-5; Cochranton (10) 19-5; Frazier (7) 16-6; Halifax (3) 19-6; Harrisburg Christian (3) 25-2; Jenkintown (1) 19-8; Keystone (9) 18-8; Math, Civics & Sciences (12) 13-5; Northeast Bradford (4) 20-5; Parkway West (12) 7-4; Phil-Mont Christian (1) 23-4; Quigley Catholic (7) 18-6; St. John Neumann (4) 17-8; Shade (5) 20-5; Shenandoah Valley (11) 15-10; Steel-High (3) 10-16; Upper Dauphin (3) 13-13; Venango Catholic (9) 19-6.