One of state's winningest girls hoop coaches resigns at Sacred Heart Cathedral, which in 2008 had the No. 1 team in the nation. He leaves just three wins shy of 600th milestone victory.

By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com

After 28 years, the last 19 at San Francisco's Sacred Heart Cathedral, California girls basketball coaching legend Brian Harrigan has decided to change gears. He announced on Tuesday he would be resigning his post at Sacred Heart Cathedral, but told CalHiSports.com on Wednesday that he could return to coaching at a later date.

"A lot of people don't realize or forget how long it's been,” said Harrigan, who began his career in 1981 as a 23-year-old girls coach at the old St. Rose Academy in San Francisco.

What a lot of people also don't realize is if St. Rose had not been forced to close after suffering irreparable damage in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake that also halted the Bay Bridge World Series, the affable Harrigan may never have landed a mile west at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

He did, and the rest is history.

Harrigan leaves behind a legacy of four CIF state championship teams, six Northern Regional titles, 10 consecutive Central Coast Section crowns, and a 597-174 record for the 2006 State Coach of the Year, and the 2009 National High School Coaches Association Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. His 2008 team was also named State Team of the Year.

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De La Salle's win over Mack on Monday will be reflected in next week's boys rankings. Deer Valley on the rise for the girls. Watch Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area every Sunday night at 7 p.m. on YourTV 20 in San Francisco. Replays during the week on Comcast SportsNet throughout Northern California.

By Harold Abend, Special to CalHiSports.com

Due to the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend, we have combined rankings this week.

Combined, meaning the boys rankings will not reflect results from Monday's MLK Day action but the girls rankings will.

Look for big changes next week in the boys' pecking order with both McClymonds and Monte Vista losing to De La Salle and St. Mary's respectively at Cal's Haas Arena in De La Salle's 12th Annual Martin Luther King Classic.

Not only that, but each of the other matchup results will affect the order as well, with Salesian beating Newark Memorial and Sacred Heart Cathedral topping Skyline.

Even so, we still had two newcomers and one returnee to this week's rankings.

For Mack, the defeat means an end to a 49-game winning streak since earlier in the week the Warriors had little trouble in their first two OAL games with 51-36 and 74-40 respective home wins over Oakland and Oakland Tech.

With De La Salle's 43-38 defeat of the Warriors, Spartan Coach Frank Allocco probably is scratching his head trying to figure out how his team gave up 50 points for the only time this season, in a 54-50 loss to the Oakland Tech team that Mack pummeled last week.

Something has changed out in Concord, because since then, in 10 games, Sparta has marched past all of its opponents by a combined 600-289 margin, including a 41-20 drubbing of defending Div. IV state champion Campbell Hall at the Merv Lopes Holiday Classic in Hawaii.

This week, Allocco's boys will be tested again by a smarting Monte Vista squad on Jan. 21, looking to bounce back from the 61-42 defeat at the hands of the Panthers.

On the girls' side, the Irish showed everyone who is still boss with a convincing 70-45 defeat of previous No. 2 Bishop O'Dowd in the Marin Catholic MLK event.

The victory ended a 4-0 run over a seven-day stretch for Coach Brian Harrigan's Irish girls, who last week had WCAL wins over St. Ignatius, Valley Christian and St. Francis of Mountain View.

This week, SHC has only one game, on Saturday in another big test against Mitty.

Mr. Kibosh also made a visit to Berkeley last week for the Pinole Valley game against the Yellowjackets.

The Kibosh was put on Pinole Valley as the Spartans lost to Berkeley, 44-39, but it rubbed off on the Yellowjackets as well.

Berkeley then went on to lose to new No. 2 Carondelet, 62-53, at Haas on MLK Day.

Denesha Stallworth, under the weather against Berkeley, still finished with a triple-double 13 points and 10 blocks, but the double and triple teaming of the Yellowjackets held her to 12 points and only four free throws in the second half of the loss.

Stallworth, the state's leading scorer with a 30-plus point per game average, came back strong in a 67-37 defeat of Alhambra of Martinez in the Spartan's game at Haas, finishing with 36 points and 14 rebounds.

Look for the CalHiSports.com Bay Area Top 20 to return to its normal form with team write-ups next week.

Boys Top 20 Teams
(Through games of Saturday, Jan. 17)
(Not including forfeits or MLK Day games)

1. McClymonds (Oakland) 17-0 (1)
2. De La Salle (Concord) 13-1 (2)
3. Monte Vista (Danville) 15-0 (3)
4. San Leandro 13-3 (4)
5. St. Mary's (Berkeley) 15-2 (5)
6. Castro Valley 15-1 (6)
7. Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) 12-4 (7)
8. Newark Memorial (Newark) 13-3 (8)
9. Berkeley 14-4 (9)
10. St. Francis (Mountain View) 15-0 (11)
11. Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 11-3 (10)
12. Castlemont (Oakland) 14-3 (12)
13. Bellarmine (San Jose) 11-4 (13)
14. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 16-0 (14)
15. Salesian (Richmond) 12-3 (15)
16. Pittsburg 12-4 (20)
17. Piner (Santa Rosa) 12-4 (16)
18. Miramonte (Orinda) 13-4 (nr)
19. Branson (Ross) 14-2 (nr)
20. Burlingame 11-4 (nr)

On the Bubble
Aptos 18-2, Carlmont (Belmont) 13-2, Drake (San Anselmo) 13-4, Dublin 14-3, Gunn (Palo Alto) 14-4, Heritage (Brentwood) 12-4, Hillsdale (San Mateo) 16-1, Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) 11-6, Mitty (San Jose) 8-6, Oakland Tech (Oakland) 10-8, Piedmont Hills (San Jose) 16-1, San Ramon Valley (Danville) 11-5, St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 14-4, Serra (San Mateo) 8-7, Skyline (Oakland) 11-7, Terra Linda (San Rafael) 12-5

Girls Top 20 Teams
(Through games of Monday, Jan. 19)
(Not including forfeits but including MLK Day games)

1. Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 14-1 (1)
2. Carondelet (Concord) 14-2 (3)
3. Mitty (San Jose) 12-4 (6)
4. Monte Vista (Danville) 12-1 (9)
5. Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) 14-2 (2)
6. Deer Valley (Antioch) 9-6 (8)
7. Valley Christian (San Jose) 13-2 (6)
8. St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 14-2 (7)
9. Pinole Valley (Pinole) 11-3 (5)
10. Northgate (Walnut Creek) 13-3 (10)
11. Branson (Ross) 13-3 (12)
12. Gunn (Palo Alto) 16-0 (13)
13. St. Mary's (Berkeley) 11-4 (14)
14. Berkeley 11-5 (15)
15. Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 12-4 (11)
16. Wilcox (Santa Clara) 10-4 (16)
17. Dublin 12-4 (18)
18. Moreau Catholic 11-4 (Hayward) (19)
19. Encinal (Alameda) 10-6 (20)
20. Campolindo (Moraga) 13-3 (nr)

On the Bubble
Granada (Livermore) 11-5, Justin-Siena (Napa) 11-5, McClymonds (Oakland) 12-4, Miramonte (Orinda) 11-5, North Salinas (Salinas) 13-3, Notre Dame (Belmont) 10-7, Petaluma 12-3, Piedmont 9-5, Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 13-4, Presentation (San Jose) 11-5, St. Joseph-Notre Dame (Alameda) 13-3, San Benito (Hollister) 13-3, Santa Cruz 16-1, Sonoma Valley (Sonoma) 11-6.

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