College of the Redwoods Athletics – From left to right, CR’s Jett Cheong Jon Nchekwube and Trey Neff.

By Ray Hamill — The College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team will carry some momentum into a well-deserved three-week break over the Holidays after achieving the program’s all-time high ranking in the latest coaches poll.

The Corsairs, who are 16-2, are up to No. 12 in the state this week.

After defeating Mendocino 72-55 in the third-place game at the Santa Rosa tournament on Saturday, the Corsairs will not play again until their conference opener at home to Shasta on Jan. 7.

The team’s only losses this season have come against No. 16 Los Medanos and No. 8 Yuba, the latter of which came in a disappointing performance at the Santa Rosa tournament on Friday.

The CR men, however, quickly responded with their third win of the season over Mendocino one day later.

This season, the Corsairs have already pieced together winning streaks of seven and eight games.

Redwoods will go into the Golden Valley Conference as the two-time defending champion and the favorites to win it all again.

None of the team’s five conference opponents are ranked in the top-30 in state and only one — Siskiyous (11-6) — has a winning record.

The CR women, meanwhile, will carry a disappointing four-game losing streak into the Holidays.

The Corsairs dropped all three of their games at the Moorpark tournament over the weekend, including a 63-42 loss to Mt. San Antonio in their tournament finale on Saturday.

The consistent Rachel Valdez scored a team-high 24 points in that loss.

The CR women, who are now 4-10, will play at the San Jose City College tournament next week.

The Corsairs open against Pasadena City on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The CR women had won three of four games before their recent losing streak.

They also open conference play on Jan. 7 against Shasta.