Girls soccer, girls, boys basketball make grade
Three of the four Piedmont High School winter sports teams were rewarded with berths in the North Coast Section playoffs announced on February 15.
For the third consecutive season, the girls basketball team was named to the NCS Open Division bracket. The six teams in the Open Division are rated the best in the entire NCS and receive berths into the California Interscholastic Federation championship after the NCS playoffs conclude. The Highlanders will host Cardinal Newman on February 19 at 7 p.m. at Binks Gymnasium. The Cardinals beat Piedmont at home in the opening round, 51-45 last year and won the NCS Open Division title in 2024.
The Highlanders received the No. 3 seed in the bracket after finishing the regular season 19-3, 6-0 in West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division play. They enter the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.
San Ramon Valley is the top seed and Carondelet is No. 2 and will host the winner of the Piedmont-Cardinal Newman game.
Piedmont beat Cardinal Newman in the championship game of the Paris Twins Classic at Binks Gymnasium on December 13, 64-50. The Highlanders trailed at halftime, 33-30 but dominated the second half. Andrea Martin scored 25 points for Piedmont and Taylor White had 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Cardinal Newman is 21-7 after running away with the North Bay League Oak Division title with a 10-0 record. The Cardinals also enter the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.
The boys basketball team earned the fourth seed in Division 2 and will host Urban-San Francisco at 7 p.m. on February 18. The Highlanders finished the regular season 18-8, 6-4 in the WACC Foothill Division. They ended the season on a four-game winning streak.
If Piedmont beats Urban, it would host the winner of No. 12 Ygnacio Valley at No. 5 Albany. Old friend University-San Francisco received the top seed.
The Highlanders have made the playoffs in all seven of Ben Spencer’s tenure as head coach and the past 14 seasons when the playoffs were held (playoffs were canceled in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The team won its first NCS title in 2019-20.
Urban is 15-11, 4-6 in the Bay Counties League West.
The girls soccer team received the fifth seed in the NCS Division 2 bracket. Piedmont will host 12th-seeded Acalanes on February 17 at Witter Field. The Highlanders were 9-7-2 in the regular season, 4-5-1 in the WACC Foothill Division.
The Dons enter the playoffs 7-9, 4-4 in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division.
Piedmont won two NCS championships during the tenure of former coach Dan Chubbock, who was fired after last season. First-year coach Matt Spencer-Harvey led the team to a playoff berth, continuing a streak of playoff berths that dates to 2001 when the NCS first split the winter playoffs into two divisions.