Crossroads wasn’t invited to participate in the CIF basketball playoffs last season. What a difference a year makes.
The Crossroads boys and girls teams have both earned playoff berths for the competition that began this week.
The boys, who won just four games last season, are 16-10 now and by winning their last three clinched third place in the rugged Olympic League behind Campbell Hall and Windward and, in a major achievement, ahead of Brentwood.
The CIF invited Brentwood as a wild card team and also gave an at-large bid to New Roads.
The league gets three automatic playoff berths.
“We’re confident because of our preparation, work ethic and focus,” said Coach Kevin Brown. “We’ve stuck to our goals of putting team first and emphasizing defense and rebounding.”
The Crossroads girls, who also won just four games last season, are 11-10 and had a 7-2 league record.
“There are only eight girls on the team so we don’t have competitive practices, where a player has to stave off someone trying to take her position,” said Coach Danielle Minton. “But after we had a four-game losing streak early in the season we began doing better. With so few girls on the squad everyone plays in every game.”
