MaxPreps Top 25 national high school girls basketball rankings

Unlike previous seasons, there don't seem to be any spectacularly strong Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, though No. 14 St. Mary's of Stockton has a lot of strong California teams — plus South Medford of Oregon — coming to its tournament just about 50 miles east of San Francisco.

Of course many ranked teams will face challenges but, at the same time, most have settled into league play, which means the stars get to rest and the bench gets cleared pretty early.


1. (Last week 1) Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis) 13-0
Dan Rolfes and Incarnate Word duck no one: The latest two victims are No. 7 Regis Jesuit, 68-50, and highly regarded Marian Catholic, 60-33. And there's another matchup with No. 3 Blackman on Jan. 25 in Louisville.

2. (2) Long Beach Poly (Calif.) 12-1
League play shouldn't present too much of a problem to the Jackrabbits, who have added a pair of senior transfers who just became eligible — 6-3 Lajahna Drummer and 6-2 Emoni Jackson to an already loaded lineup.

3. (3) Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 16-1
At home, Blackman barely slipped past crosstown rival Riverdale, last year's national champion. After the Blaze play Tennessee power Oakland Jan. 24 and No. 1 Incarnate Word Jan. 25, they get to play in Riverdale's gym Jan. 31. Talk about a tough month ...

4. (4) Duncanville (Texas) 20-0
No team on the remaining regular season schedule has fewer than seven losses, so the Pantherettes have little to get excited about until postseason begins.

5. (5) Saint Mary's (Albany, Calif.) 12-2
The Panthers are the best in strong year for Northern California, but that's right now. They'll have to pass plenty of tests to keep this ranking, and NorCal bragging rights, at season's end.

6. (9) Homewood-Flossmoor (Flossmoor, Ill.) 7-2
After 12 years and 326 wins, Tony Smith left Bolingbrook to take over the program at Homewood-Flossmoor. Still, he couldn't quite leave Bolingbrook behind as the two schools are the same league — at least literally. The first matchup resulted in a 77-44 win for Smith's new team, which also included four transfers from Bolingbrook.

7. (6) Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.) 7-2
After going to St. Louis and getting handled by No. 1 Incarnate Word, Regis will take to the air again this weekend to Ohio to play one-time power Hathaway Brown and solid Princeton. Like many of the top coaches, Carl Mattei seeks out elite opposition.

8. (8) New Hope Christian Academy (Thomasville, N.C.) 19-0
Coach Delaney Rudd played in the NBA, so maybe that experience made him somewhat underestimate his powerhouse team. Maybe not, but for whatever reason, New Hope hasn't played a game closer than 15 points since November — and might go the rest of the way without much of a challenge.

9. (12) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 14-1
The Monarchs continue their season-long cross-country journey by heading to Springfield to play Archbishop Williams of Massachusetts on Saturday, and then fly back to play Palisades Monday.

10. (10) Fairmont (Kettering, Ohio) 13-1
Notre Dame Academy and Solon will be decent tests for Fairmont at the Classic in the Country, and then the Firebirds have to travel to Centerville Jan. 22.

11. (14) Neumann-Goretti (Philadelphia) 12-0
Neumann-Goretti handled one of New Jersey's best in Life Center, 63-56, and now draws what some consider to be the top team in New York, Long Island Lutheran, on Saturday. The Saints are earning their spot.

12. (15) Rock Bridge (Columbia, Mo.) 10-2
Rock Bridge just keeps playing top teams. After beating Columbus North, a top Indiana team, 62-53, now Edwardsville, an elite Illinois team, shows up on the schedule Jan. 24.

13. (16) Joliet Catholic Academy (Ill.) 15-0
There was a time Fenwick was not only one of the best teams in Illinois, but also one of the best teams in the country — but now the tide has turned. So this week's big game is against 16-2 Nova of Florida on Saturday.

14. (17). St. Mary's (Stockton, Calif.) 9-3
It's not quite the Giants and Dodgers, but there's still some serious intrastate rivalry at play when Windward and Etiwanda, two of Southern California's top programs, come to Stockton this weekend to play St. Mary's and always good Bishop O'Dowd.

15. (18) Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Md.) 11-2
Riverdale Baptist isn't in a league, so sometimes it's hard to find opponents — especially quality opponents. The Crusaders should be the favorites, if not the heavy favorites, the rest of the year.

16. (19) Myers Park (Charlotte, N.C.) 14-1
Two easy wins move Myers Park to 14-1, and expect two more of the same this week.

17. (21) Northside (Fort Smith, Ark.) 13-1
It's not going to be that easy for Northside this week, as first up is always-strong Conway Friday, followed by Greenwood on Tuesday. Both games are at home this time but, come February, Northside will have to face both on the road.

18. (22) Desert Vista (Phoenix) 16-0
Mountain Pointe, the alma mater of Stanford star and WNBA stalwart Nicole Powell, has three losses to good teams (two from out of state), and the other is to Dobson, considered Desert Vista's top competition — which is a long way of saying that Monday's game at Grand Canyon University should be a good test for Desert Vista.

19. (23) Sparkman (Harvest, Ala.) 20-2
Alexis Jennings went for 37 as Sparkman handled a solid Lee team, but she most likely won't need that much this week: Bob Jones isn't what it used to be, and J.O. Johnson on Martin Luther King Day should be another easy win.

20. (20) Horn Lake (Miss.) 17-0
Olive Branch is 15-2, so Friday's game should be competitive — though the game is at Horn Lake. Otherwise, there's not much excitement for Horn Lake until postseason.

21. (25) Princess Anne (Virginia Beach, Va.) 13-0
It wasn't easy, but Princess Anne got past Maury 62-56 to stay unbeaten and in the Xcellent 25. Saturday, 11-0 Cosby will present another challenge.

22. (13) Lawrence North (Indianapolis) 14-1
Talk about a letdown. In avenging a 56-54 overtime loss from last season, Lawrence North knocked off previous No. 7 Bedford North Lawrence, 59-49 — and then lost to Pike, 53-50, a team the Wildcats had beaten by 23 earlier in the season.

23. (7) Bedford North Lawrence (Bedford, Ind.) 13-1
Though 6-3 Jenna Allen scored 26 points, it wasn't enough for the Stars, who had trouble with the constant pressure from No. 22 Lawrence North and faded in the fourth quarter for their first loss since February 2012.

24. (11) Whitney Young (Chicago) 13-2
The Dolphins have a big road win over previously-ranked Manvel, but a loss to Trinity back in Illinois not only drops Whitney Young, but calls into question just how strong Texas is this season.

25. (NR) Shabazz (Newark, N.J.) 8-1
The Bulldogs come back into the rankings — of all the strong teams with a loss to an unranked team, theirs might be the least damaging. Shabazz traveled across the country to California and lost in the first round of the West Coast Jamboree to a strong Northern California team that got a great performance from Louisville signee Mariya Moore.

Dropped out: No. 24 Manvel