Busy week of postseason begins Tuesday for Modesto-area athletes

Nine basketball teams and 22 wrestlers from the Stanislaus District continue their seasons this week in search of section and state championships.

The section basketball semifinals get underway Tuesday night with four local teams seeing action.

Modesto Christian’s girls, the top seed in the Division II tournament and the D-III state champs in 2014, take on No. 4 Del Oro (Loomis) at 4 p.m. at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Also at 4, in a Division III matchup, No. 4 Patterson takes on top-ranked Vanden (Fairfield) at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.

In the Division III boys bracket, three Valley Oak League teams are still alive as No. 3 Sierra takes on No. 2 Vanden at 5:30 at Cosumnes River College, while No. 5 Manteca takes on Weston Ranch at 7.

Of course, there’s more basketball action Wednesday.

Modesto Christian, the No. 2 in the boys Division II pairings, takes on No. 3 St. Mary’s at 4 p.m. at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena.

In D-V boys action, No. 3 Mariposa and No. 2 Brookside Christian square off at 7:30 p.m. at Galt High School. On the girls side in D-V, No. 4 Ripon Christian meets top-seeded Woodland Christian at 4 at Galt High, while No. 2 Argonaut and No. 3 Capital Christian meet 90 minutes later on the same court.

On Thursday, No. 2 Turlock Christian meets No. 1 Valley Christian (Sacramento) at 6 p.m. at the Division VI girls title at Galt High School.

All other section championship games will be held on Friday at Saturday at Sleep Train Arena.

The wrestlers, which include Sac-Joaquin Section Masters champs Modesto’s Israel Saavedra (126), Pitman’s Angel Velasquez (132), Enochs’ McCoy Kent (138), Oakdale’s Abel Garcia (170) and Buhach Colony’s Jay Johnson (195) – will be off until Friday, when they arrive in Bakersfield for the preliminary rounds of the CIF State Meet at Rabobank Arena. Champions will be crowned Saturday.

This story was originally published March 2, 2015 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Busy week of postseason begins Tuesday for Modesto-area athletes."