To all the fans from Maria Regina, Victory, Holy Child, Blessed Sacrament, Good Counsel and Hackley,

You are the best. You have put up with this blog being seized for nine straight days by Championship Week, which, you have to admit, is a pretty sweet week of basketball.

Now that the regional semis are over, it’s time to take a moment to discuss the CHSAA playoffs and the New York State Independent School tournament.

Here’s a look at the schedule:

CHSAA B Division
Friday — Semifinals, at Sacred Heart in Yonkers:
No. 1 Maria Regina vs. No. 4 Victory, 4:30 p.m.
No. 6 Moore Catholic vs. No. 2 Cardinal Spellman, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday — Championship, at St. Raymond’s, Bronx:
Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.

CHSAA C Division
Thursday — Semifinals, at Cathedral, Manhattan:
No. 4 (Bronx/Westchester) Sacred Heart vs. Notre Dame, 4:30 p.m.
No. 1 (Bronx/Westchester) Blessed Sacrament vs. No. 3 (Bronx/Westchester) Good Counsel, 6:15 p.m.
Sunday — Championship, at St. Raymond’s, Bronx:
Semifinal winners, 12 p.m.

NYSAISAA state tournament
Thursday — Quarterfinals:
No. 8 Convent of Sacred Heart/Dwight School vs. No. 1 Holy Child, 4 p.m. at Purchase
No. 7 Staten Island Academy vs. No. 2 Hackley, 4:30 p.m.
No. 6 Dalton School vs. No. 3 Immaculate Academy, 4 p.m. at Dalton
No. 5 Poly Prep vs. No. 4 Horace Mann, 4:30 p.m. at Horace Mann
Friday — Semifinals, at TBD:
Poly Prep/Horace Mann vs. Holy Child/CSH/Dwight, 4:30 p.m.
Immaculate/Dalton vs. Hackley/Staten Island, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday — Championship game, at Fieldston:
Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.

Here’s my take on the local teams’ chances…

CHSAA —

Maria Regina: Of all these teams, the Tigers have the best chance to win it all. They appear to be back at full strength, which is key…at full strength none of the teams in this tournament beat them. Cardinal Spellman beat Maria in one of their three matchups, but that was without Maria Regina star Bianca Kowgios in the lineup. The Tigers won close games over Spellman in their other meetings, 49-47 and 52-46. They did not face Moore Catholic, a team that has improved since its opening-game loss to Victory. Either would make for a tough final, but Maria would certainly be favored. … Of course, all this hinges on pulling off the three-game sweep of Victory, which won’t be easy. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to see the Jags try and end what’s been a dream season for Maria. That should make for quite the drama. They’ll have to slow down Jen Nixon, who came through big in the paint the last time the teams met. Prediction: Champion

Our Lady of Victory: Task No. 1 for Victory is figuring out how it can get past its rival on Friday. The Jags were beaten soundly in their first meeting, falling way behind, then were outlasted in the second meeting, 59-46. As I said above, Nixon played a great game that night, and Kowgios did an excellent job of breaking down the defense and finding Amanda Robertson and Natalie Catavero for open looks. I don’t know if Victory can limit its TOs vs. Maria, so Nicole Detko will have to drain 3’s. Ariel Guzman will have to get Detko the ball, and avoid the pressure defense. Coach Mike Kiers praised the contributions of Alyssa Pechin and Kristen Rehm, who had 12 points off the bench vs. Preston in the quarterfinals, but he’ll need that and then some to knock off Maria. If OLV pulls it off, it will need to keep the momentum rolling after having lost ot Spellman during the regular season. As I said above, OLV beat Moore Catholic in the season opener 58-45. Prediction: Semifinal loss to Maria Regina (sorry OLV)

Blessed Sacrament: Is this for real, a team with two wins last year headed to the championship game? Looks possible. The Cardinals beat their semifinal opponent, Good Counsel, twice this season, 50-39 and 47-40. They have beat possible C Division final opponents Cathedral and St. Catharine’s, and should have plenty of hope they will join the boys in hosting some hardware come Sunday. The player to watch is 6-foot freshman Rachel McNair. She’s scored in double figures every game this season — just amazing consistency for a freshman — and she’s a double-double player. McNair has averaged 19.5 PPG in two wins over Good Counsel, so she’s apt to go off tomorrow unless Good Counsel adjusts its D. Predictions: Champion

Good Counsel: Like I said above, it doesn’t look great for Good Counsel this week. The Cougars have lost twice to Blessed Sacrament this season, but there are three good reasons to remain optimistic: 1) White Plains beat two teams it has lost to twice this season, proving it’s not impossible, 2) The losses were long ago, one in December, the other on Jan. 10, 3) Good Counsel was in both games. It actually led the Jan. 10th game at halftime, before falling in the second half. … The Cougars’ star is Laura Kennedy, a 5-foot-10 center who fared well against McNair, averaging 13.0 PPG in the two games. Prediction: Semifinal loss to Blessed Sacrament

Sacred Heart: The Irish split with Cathedral during the regular season but won its quarterfinal against the Manhattan school easily, 46-31, behind 17 points Brittany Celona. Sacred Heart hasn’t played Notre Dame, but it has reason for optimism. Notre Dame lost to Cathedral during the regular season. If you put two and two together, it looked like Sacred Heart could meet Blessed Sacrament in the final. That may be a tough one. The Irish lost to the Cardinals by an average of 22 PPG in their three meetings this season. Prediction: Championship game loss to Blessed Sacrament.

NYSAISAA —

Holy Child: Here’s a team in search of redemption after a less-than-stellar showing in the Fairchester playoffs that ended with a semifinal loss to Hamden Hall. Will it happen? Honestly, it should. The Gryphons are 7-0 against teams in the field, having defeated six of their eight possible opponents (Convent of Sacred Heart twice). The two wild cards in the field are Poly Prep and Immaculate, neither of which rank among Holy Child’s 20 victims. My only worry for the Gryphons if their layoff (15 days) and their confidence. That said, they do have the best player in the tournament. Prediction: Champion

Hackley: Like Holy Child, the Hornets have dominated teams in this field, going 7-1 with the only loss coming against Holy Child, 60-49. The only difference here is Hackley’s unfamiliarity with its side of the bracket, having never faced first-round opponent Staten Island Academy or possible semifinal opponent Immaculate. The Hornets have beat Poly Prep twice, which makes me think their good enough to get to the final but that Holy Child will be there waiting for them. Prediction: Runner-up

As of now, my plan is to check out Maria Regina-Spellman on Friday, then watch both the B and C Division championship games on Sunday at St. Ray’s. If Hackley and Holy Child advance to Sunday’s NYSAISAA final, we’ll have someone out at that game as well.