By Michelle Gardner

Staff Writer

For the San Bernardino Valley College womens basketball team there was both good news and bad news when state playoffs pairings were announced Monday.

The Foothill Conference champion Wolverines are getting a home game against the team they lost to last year.

The bad news is that should they advance, the defending state champion will most likely be the next foe.

Were playing well right now so I dont think it matters much who we play, coach Sue Crebbin said. The teams that are still playing are all good so there wont be an easy game. This team seems to get more up for the better teams anyway.

The seventh-seeded Wolverines (26-5) will square off with No. 10 Fullerton (20-13), the third-place team out of the Orange Empire Conference, at Snyder Gymnasium at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Last year the Hornets eliminated SBVC 77-69 in the Wolverines initial second-round appearance in school history. That came days after Crebbins squad managed a win over Orange Coast for the its first postseason victory.

We have everyone back and they havent forgotten, Crebbin said. I would think that is incentive enough. The girls are excited about getting to play them again.

Defending state champion Mt. SAC (32-1) is seeded second in the Southern California Regional behind Orange Coast (29-3). The Mounties lone loss came to the Pirates the first game of the season.

Mt. SAC starts out by facing the winner of Wednesdays play-in game between No. 15 Santa Ana (17-13) and No. 18 Cuesta (21-9). Then it would face the SBVC-Fullerton winner.

The Foothill Conference has four teams in the 18-team draw. The others are Mt. San Jacinto (21-10), Chaffey (24-7) and Antelope Valley (18-13).

The Chaffey Panthers tied Antelope for the No. 3 spot in the conference but lost the head-to-head with the Marauders, meaning they were relegated to the fourth seed out of the conference.

Coach Gary Plunkett thought his team might get left out but its strength of schedule payed off. The Panthers are seeded ninth and will play at No. 8 Cerritos (24-8) on Friday.

I went from thinking we had a good chance to thinking we probably wouldnt get in, he said. So I am just thrilled we made it. I knew there was pretty much no chance of a home game.

On the mens side the news was not as good for the local teams. The Wolverines (13-15) settled for fourth in the conference and were done in by a 4-10 showing in nonconference play. It is the first time in 10 years the school did not get into the playoffs.

SBVCs failure to get in also meant the end for Chaffey (17-13) which finished fifth in the conference and could not get in without the Wolverines making it too.

The Foothill Conference has three teams in, all of whom tied for the conference championship. But Mt. San Jacinto went in as the top team from the conference and was rewarded with a No. 5 seed. Antelope Valley is seeded 10th in the 20-team field with College of the Desert No. 11.

Riverside (25-7), the No. 3 team out of the Orange Empire Conference, is the No. 9 seed and will travel to No. 8 Los Angeles City (24-8).

Citrus (30-1) is the top seed. The Owls have won 18 straight games and await the winner of a play-in game between El Camino and Imperial Valley.

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