Windsor gets ‘tough draw’ for NCS basketball tournament

The newly crowned North Bay League tournament basketball champions learned their assignments Sunday for the North Coast Section tournament, and they were noticably different.

The Cardinal Newman girls team earned the No. 2 seed in Division 3 on the strength of a 23-4 overall record and a 14-0 NBL mark capped by Saturday night’s 73-44 victory against Montgomery in the league tournament final.

Windsor’s boys team, nearly as impressive with a 13-1 league record, a 23-5 overall and their own league tournament championship, received only a No. 9 seed in Division 2.

“Tough draw,” said Jaguars coach Travis Taylor. “Our league didn’t get a lot of respect in the seeding, but the D-2 bracket is loaded with talent. It’s as deep as I can remember it.”

Windsor will get a home game as the No. 9 seed by virtue of being a league champion. The Jaguars will play No. 8 seed Tamalpais on Tuesday. The two met in the Brett Callan Tournament at Casa Grande on Dec. 15 and the Red Tailed Hawks came away with a 59-54 victory.

Tamalpais was the section runner-up a year ago, losing to Moreau Catholic in the final after collecting wins against Montgomery in a semifinal and Cardinal Newman in a quarterfinal.

“They’re really good,” Taylor said. “Just about everybody is back.”

Cardinal Newman’s girls team will open its tournament play at home Tuesday against No. 15 Las Lomas.

Two Redwood Empire teams received No. 1 seeds. The Rincon Valley Christian girls team rode an 18-8 record to a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the Division 6 bracket. And Laytonville’s boys, with a 22-4 mark, got the No. 1 in Division 6 and will open their tournament play Wednesday against No. 16 El Sobrante Christian.

The Laytonville girls team nearly made it a rare double for the Warriors program; they earned a No. 2 seed.

The section basketball tournaments run for two weeks with the championship games scheduled for the weekend of March 2-3 with times and dates to be determined.