By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com

The Napa Valley College women's basketball team got good news over the weekend.

First, it was announced that the Storm (16-12 overall, 10-4 Bay Valley Conference) is the No. 24 seed and will travel to face No. 9 seed San Jose City College (25-3 overall, 12-0 Coast-South Conference) in the first round of the California Community College Athletic Association Northern California Regional playoffs on Wednesday, Feb. 28.

The start time for game is to still be announced.

The 3C2A Regional Playoffs were announced on Sunday by the California Community College Athletic Association, at 3c2asports.org.

"We're in," said Storm head coach Paul DeBolt. "I knew we were going to be in. Just didn't know where we'd end up and who we played.

"We're thrilled, just to be able to keep playing, making the postseason two years in a row. We've still got some basketball left in us."

A seeding meeting for the playoffs was held on Sunday. The field will consist of 24 teams.

Second, the Storm's Brooklyn Giles, a sophomore guard, and Daralonie Sykes, a sophomore point guard, were each named to the All-Bay Valley Conference first team.

Third, Giles was named All-State. She is third-team All-State.

Giles averaged 18.5 points on 51.0 percent shooting from the field, 14.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.1 blocks per game during the regular season. She shot 59.5 percent from the free-throw line.

"We're really proud of her, and just her growth, the way she has just grown up right before our eyes," said DeBolt. "That's quite an honor."

Giles missed four games due to suffering a sprained right ankle in the second game of the season.

Giles ranks second in the state in defensive rebounds, seventh in total rebounds, and seventh in rebounds per game.

Sykes averaged 12.0 points on 39.1 percent shooting from the field, 4.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game during the regular season. She shot 70.9 percent from the free-throw line.

Napa Valley is 7-3 over its last 10 games.

The Storm won its Bay Valley Conference and regular-season finale, 75-65, over host Yuba College-Marysville, on Feb 22. It's the second straight win for the Storm, which was led by Giles with 26 points and Sykes with 24 points.

NVC finishes the conference season in third place.

San Jose City played in Storm Surge III, a preseason women's basketball invitational tournament hosted by Napa Valley.

San Jose City went 2-1 in the tournament, losing to College of the Siskiyous-Weed, 71-58, winning, 75-26 over Gavilan-Gilroy, and winning, 88-34 over Foothill-Los Altos Hills.

San Jose City is the Coast-South Conference champion and comes into the NorCal Regionals on a 12-game winning streak.

"They're a real good club," said DeBolt.

The winner of Napa Valley-San Jose City plays Cosumnes River-Sacramento.

In other first-round NorCal regional playoff games, on Wednesday, Feb. 28:

* No. 17 Diablo Valley-Pleasant Hill is at No. 16 Hartnell-Salinas (19-9).

* No. 21 College of the Redwoods-Eureka (11-14) is at No. 12 Sierra-Rocklin (17-11).

* No. 20 Reedley (17-10) is at College of the Siskiyous-Weed (18-8).

Teams with first-round byes are No. 1 Butte-Oroville (27-1), No. 8 Cosumnes River-Sacramento (22-6), No. 5 City College of San Francisco (20-7), and No. 4 Folsom Lake (20-8).

In other first-round NorCal regional playoff games, on Wednesday, Feb. 28:

* No. 18 Solano Community College-Fairfield (21-7) is at No. 15 College of San Mateo (18-9).

* No. 23 Mission-Santa Clara (18-10) is at No. 10 Santa Rosa (18-10).

* No. 22 Taft (18-10) is at No. 11 Chabot-Hayward (19-9).

* No. 19 Modesto (14-14) is at No. 14 Skyline-San Bruno (15-13).

Teams with first-round byes are No. 2 San Joaquin Delta-Stockton (24-4), No. 7 College of the Sequoias-Visalia (19-9), No. 6 Laney-Oakland (22-4), and No. 3 Fresno City (24-4).

Quarterfinal-round regional games are on Saturday, March 2.

The state championship finals start on March 14 at Mt. San Antonio College-Walnut.

"There are lot of teams that are very similar in strength throughout the North," said DeBolt.

Laney and Solano tied for the Bay Valley Conference title, each team going 13-1.

* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.