Piedmont High School’s boys and girls basketball teams will both open on the road in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation tournament.
The girls made the Division 1 bracket as the ninth seed and will open at No. 8 Whitney-Rocklin on Feb. 27. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The boys made the Division 3 bracket as the No. 14 seed and will open at No. 3 Valley Christian-San Jose, also on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
Valley Christian finished seventh in the West Catholic Athletic League with a 2-12 record (13-14 overall). But the Warriors then won the Central Coast Section Division 2 playoffs, beating Christopher-Gilroy in the final, 48-35. The WCAL is the toughest boys basketball league in the Bay Area with five teams making the CCS Open Division and two others winning lower-division championships including Valley Christian.
Piedmont boys coach Ben Spencer didn’t sound pleased to have to go on the road against a 13-14 team, but he said, “at this point, you’ve got to beat who you’ve got to beat.”
Spencer said forward Diego Martinez stands out on video. Tzahari Trevino is a strong guard.
The big issue for the Highlanders (20-10) will be depth. They played six in a 65-55 loss to University-San Francisco in the North Coast Section Division 3 final on Feb. 23. University pressed the entire game and wore Piedmont down at the end.
Whitney’s girls (22-9) defeated Vanden last week for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 championship, 64-53. That’s the only common opponent with Piedmont, which beat Vanden in December, 71-68. The Highlanders (20-7) lost two games in the NCS Open Division, to area powers Carondelet and Acalanes.
The winner of the Whitney-Piedmont game will likely face top seed Pinewood-Los Altos Hills in the second round on Feb. 29.