Paloma Valley sends two teams into CIF basketball playoffs

Three area high school basketball teams were among those that were among those listed in the first-round CIF playoff pairings announced today.

The Paloma Valley girls basketball team will be at home Thursday for a first-round playoff game against Whittier in Division 4AA. The Wildcats are celebrating their first league championship since 1997. They finished 18-9 overall after posting a 13-1 record in Sunbelt League play.

Whittier comes into the playoffs as the No. 3 team from the Del Rio League with a 14-12 record.

In boys basketball on Friday, Paloma Valley faces a tough Division 3AA opener at Hillcrest High of Riverside. Hillcrest has a 21-7 overall record and won the River Valley League this year. The Wildcats got in as the Ivy League’s No. 4 team with a 16-12 record.

In a Division 5A girls basketball game on Thursday, Santa Rosa Academy will play at Lutheran La Verne, which is 13-5 overall and finished second in the Western League.