10 girls basketball teams set for annual Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona

Regis Jesuit continues to be atop the 5A girls basketball ranking. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Ten Colorado schools will play in the 17th-annual Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona this weekend. The girls basketball tournament, which features 83 total schools competing in 11 separate divisions, begins on Thursday.

Games are played at five local high schools in Chandler, Ariz. Colorado schools competing in the tournament include Castle View, Cherry Creek, Grandview, Highlands Ranch, Horizon, Pueblo County, Pueblo West, Regis Jesuit, Rock Canyon and ThunderRidge.

Seven of the schools are ranked in this week’s CHSAANow.com 5A poll. Regis Jesuit, Highlands Ranch, ThunderRidge and Grandview go Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Rock Canyon is No. 6, Castle View is No. 8 and Cherry Creek is No. 9. Pueblo West is ranked No. 4 in the 4A poll.

Each division has its own bracket and championship games. Horizon and Cherry Creek are the only Colorado schools that will play in the same division.

Regis Jesuit, ranked No. 6 in the most recent MaxPreps’ Xcellent 25 national rankings, has perhaps the most challenging division of all local schools. The Raiders will play in the Joe Smith Division, which features six other schools ranked in the top 15 nationally. Those teams are No. 2 Mater Dei (Calif.), No. 7 Riverdale Baptist (Md.), No. 8 Long Beach Poly (Calif.), No. 11 Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.), No. 12 Christ the King (N.Y.) and No. 15 Stockton St. Mary’s (Calif.).

A complete breakdown of local team’s divisions are below. Included are their first-round games. Find the complete brackets here (.pdf), as well as general information on the tournament here.