Santa Barbara High will be led by senior Tess Emerson at this year's Tournament of Champions.
Perennial girls basketball power St. Joseph and Atascadero are the top seeded teams in the gold and green divisions at the annual Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
The four-day 32-team, two-bracket extravaganza tips off Monday at the Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos gyms.
The tournament, one of the longest running in the state, has a rich tradition of attracting some of best players in the state and in the country. Among the big names who have played here include Lisa Leslie, Sue Bird, Marion Jones and Diana Taurasi.
Standout players in this year’s gold division include Santa Barbara’s Tess Emerson, who’s signed with Pepperdine, Gonzaga-bound Keani Albanez of Buena, Aly Beebe and Kelsi English of defending CIF champion St. Joseph, DeVaughna Jenkins of Clovis North, Kylie Cunningham of CIF runner-up Agoura, Joelle Herron of Mira Costa, Christine Kime of San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic, Emma Weinrich of Arroyo Grande, Chelsea Jacoby of Royal.
In the green division, players to watch include Soquel two-sport (volleyball and basketball) star Ragine Graves, Stephanie Wong of Peninsula, Shannon Berwick of Atascadero, Sandra Ortiz of Channel Islands, Hannah Gilbert of Morro Bay, Marley Dawson of North-Bakersfield, Jessica Escalante and Chiara DiMarco of Dos Pueblos, Amanda Spence of Santa Ynez.
St. Joseph finished runner-up to Ventura in last year’s gold division. The Knights are off to a slow start this season, going 0-3 at the Marin Catholic Tournament. They open TOC play at 10:45 a.m. Monday against Newbury Park at Santa Barbara High.
There is one out-of-state team in the field, Brookswood Secondary of British Columbia, Canada is competing in the gold division.
Tournament brackets are at http://sbtoc.com/
Santa Barbara (6-2) tips off against a tough Pacifica team (3-1) at 5:45 p.m.
A couple of marquee first-round matches in the gold division are Agoura (5-1) against Mira Costa (4-1) at 4 p.m. at Santa Barbara, and Buena (7-2) against Cathedral Catholic at 2:15 p.m. at Dos Pueblos.
The championship bracket games all will be played at Santa Barbara. The semifinals are Wednesday at 5:45 and 7 p.m. and the championship is Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Dos Pueblos, San Marcos and Santa Ynez are entered in the green division. DP opens at home against Nipomo at 7:30 p.m. and San Marcos plays in its gym against Dana Hills at 7:30. Santa Ynez takes on Rio Mesa at 12:30 p.m. at San Marcos.
Top-seeded Atascadero tips off against St. Bonaventure at 12:30 p.m. at DP.
The marquee first-round matchups are Soquel facing Righetti at 5:45 at San Marcos and Morro Bay playing North-Bakersfield at 2:15 at San Marcos.
The green division semifinals are at San Marcos on Wednesday and the championship game is set for Thursday at Santa Barbara at 5:45 p.m.
