MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings

1. (1) Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis), 3-0
The Red Knights will play in the Visitation Christmas Tournament next week before getting their first real test against No. 24 Elizabethtown in the first round of the Naples Holiday Classic Dec. 30.

2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 4-0
The Monarchs got a scare when star junior Katie Lou Samuelson tweaked her knee, but so far, so good. She'll continue to play and presumably will be close to full strength for this weekend's Nike TOC in Arizona.

3. (3) Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), 9-0
Sparkman once again proved to be a tough out for the Blaze, but they knocked off one of Alabama's perennial powers 57-48 to win their ninth in a row. The Ezell Harding Tournament in Tennessee is next.

4. (4) Shabazz (Newark, N.J.), 0-0
The Bulldogs are still waiting to prove they belong this high -- and they don't play their first game until Dec. 27 at the West Coast Jamboree in Northern California.

5. (6) Duncanville (Texas), 11-0
Mansfield Timberview, despite having three losses, played Duncanville tough before losing by eight. The next challenge looks to be Richardson, 14-3 at this point, in the first round of the Sandra Meadows Tournament after Christmas.

6. (7) Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.), 4-0
Regis is rolling along nicely, but the road will get a lot bumpier in the Joe Smith Division of the Nike TOC, which starts Thursday just south of Phoenix.

7. (8) Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.), 4-0
Just like No. 6 Regis Jesuit, Riverdale Baptist is looking forward to the challenge of playing some of the nation's top teams in the Nike TOC. Of course, there's no easy path to success there, and every game in the top bracket will be a challenge.

8. (11) Long Beach Poly (Calif.), 3-0
Long Beach Poly not only enjoyed the fun and sun in Hawaii, but also won the Iolani Classic, knocking off previous No. 17 Riverdale 57-49 in the final. The Nike TOC is next.

9. (9) Bedford North Lawrence (Bedford, Ind.), 7-0
Unbeaten Madison is on tap Saturday, but the Indiana 3A power will have to up its game to hang with the 4A champs -- who are getting 15 points a game each from Dominique McBryde and Kennedy Wall.

10. (10) New Hope Christian Academy (Thomasville, N.C.), 9-0
Vance should be another easy win for New Hope, which will ramp up the level of competition at the Title IX tournament in Washington, D.C., after Christmas.

11. (12) Homewood-Flossmoor (Flossmoor, Ill.), 5-0
Yet another top 15 team that's heading to Arizona, but the Vikings have an advantage: They've already played some tough games on the road, and are a little more battle-tested than the teams that have only dominated lesser opponents.

12. (14) Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.), 4-0
As usual, the Royals play a very tough preseason schedule, and next up is the Nike TOC in Phoenix. Christ the King will play in the Joe Smith Division, and will rely on Duke signee Sierra Calhoun to lead the way.

13. (13) Fairmont (Kettering, Ohio), 5-1
After an easy win over Lebanon, the Firebirds must gear up for a game against Centerville Saturday, a team that beat Fairmont last year and lost to powerful Princeton only by seven.

14. (15) Manvel (Texas), 15-1
Since losing to Duncanville, Manvel has reeled off a string of double-digit wins, including a couple of 60-plus-point poundings. After Christmas, though, Manvel should get a shot at No. 18 Whitney Young, with No. 5 Duncanville most likely in line for the winner.

15. (16) St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.), 6-0
Sacred Heart Cathedral gave the Rams a good run before losing by five, 87-82. And no, that wasn't an overtime score -- that's the pace St. Mary's likes to play.

16. (NR) St. Anthony's (Melville, N.Y.), 3-0
Charise Wilson had 18 points as St. Anthony's overcame an eight-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter and ran down previous No. 5 Paul VI at the Tina Thompson She Got Game Classic in Washington, D.C. It's wins like these that put teams in the national spotlight.

17. (17) Riverdale (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), 9-2
It's a basic precept of the Xcellent 25 that a lower-ranked team is supposed to lose to a higher-ranked team, and thus there's no penalty in the rankings (all else being equal) when that happens. Thus Riverdale losing to No. 8 Long Beach Poly in Hawaii doesn't change much.

18. (18) Whitney Young (Chicago), 6-0
Conference play begins for the Dolphins, which won't be much of a challenge. But after Christmas, coach Corry Irvin will take her team on one of its usual challenging trips, this time to the home court of No. 5 Duncanville for the Sandra Meadows Classic.

19. (19) Rock Bridge (Columbia, Mo.), 5-2
The Bruins keep on challenging themselves, and it paid off with a tournament title at the TOC in Fort Smith, Ark., hosted by previous No. 20 Northside. Rock Bridge beat the hosts in the final, and now takes on Kansas power St. Thomas Aquinas Friday.

20. (21) Southwest DeKalb (Decatur, Ga.), 6-0
There are those who say that Georgia, and in fact the entire Southeast, is down after last year's fine showing. But Southwest DeKalb can prove the naysayers wrong by playing well at the Nike TOC.

21. (5) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), 5-1
Ariana Freeman got hurt during the game and the Panthers were upset by new No. 16 St. Anthony's. Paul VI now must regroup for a big Dec. 23 matchup with league rival St. John's. Luckily, it's at home.

22. (22) Horn Lake (Miss.), 10-0
Horn Lake should get a bit more of a challenge from New Site on Saturday than it has from its other Mississippi opposition. The Eagles' relatively weak schedule, though, means any stumble will knock them out of the Xcellent 25.

23. (23) Lawrence North (Indianapolis), 10-0
After rolling through the Marion County tournament, Lawrence North is unlikely to be challenged until 2014, when Roncalli shows up on the schedule.

24. (24) Elizabethtown (Ky.), 2-0
The Republic Bank Classic is next for Elizabethtown, a young but very talented team that will be in the thick of things in Kentucky all season long.

25. (20) Northside (Fort Smith, Ark.), 5-1
The Grizzlies knocked off Midwest City of Oklahoma, one of that state's best, but couldn't hang with Rock Bridge in the finals of the TOC in their home town. Unbeaten Bolivar is next, so Northside has to bounce back quickly.

Dropped out: No. 25 Etiwanda.