Girls BB CIF State Previews & Picks

Since the incredible 96-87 overtime win by Ontario Christian vs Archbishop Mitty back in January at the Kay Yow Classic in Santa Ana (announced by Cal-Hi Sports girls hoops rankings compiler Harold Abend), the idea of a rematch for the CIF Open Division state title has been salivating. It’s going to happen on Saturday and we have Harold’s predicted score. We also have info and predictions for the other five CIF state finals on the girls side. We do this each year with great respect to all 12 teams who’ve made it to a CIF state championship and with a historical touch.

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Note: Our lead girls basketball analyst, Harold Abend, did the breakdowns for Open Division girls and Division I girls. Editor and publisher Mark Tennis did the rest.

FOR MOST RECENT GIRLS STATE TOP 30 RANKINGS (DONE BEFORE REGION FINALS), CLICK HERE.

(All games played at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento)
(All state rankings references to State Top 30, which were done before any of this week’s games)

Open Division (Girls)
State No. 1 Ontario Christian (SoCal) 33-2 vs. State No. 2 Archbishop Mitty of San Jose (NorCal) 28-2, Saturday, 6 pm

It all comes down to Cal-Hi Sports No. 1 against No. 2 for the CIF Open Division state championship on Saturday night at 6pm at the Golden 1 Center. The recent rivalry between Ontario Christian and Archbishop Mitty dates back to last season when the two split a pair of games. Mitty won the first game last year, 59-34, at the Nike TOC in Arizona, but two weeks later the Monarchs lost 61-44 at the Sabrina Ionescu SI20 Showcase at Concord Carondelet when Iowa-bound senior star McKenna Woliczko went down with a season-ending knee injury.

Although the two did not assume the top two spots they had occupied since the preseason rankings this season again until this week after surrendering them when Ontario Christian was upset in the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship title game by Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, it all “came out in the wash” as they say. Ontario Christian had to drop to No. 2 with Mitty, although a blowout winner over Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division championship, having to fall in behind the Knights due to a 96-87 overtime loss in mid-January that made Ontario Christian 2-1 in the rivalry.

In the end, there was just one more upset among CIF Southern Regional teams when Sage Hill shocked Sierra Canyon in the SoCal Open semifinals preventing a rematch of the CIFSS Open title game many had hoped for in the SoCal Open title tilt. Ontario Christian did its part in front of a packed house when the Knights’ girls hosted Inland Empire rival Etiwanda in the semifinals. They only led 18-16 after one quarter and 34-26 at the half, but took charge from there on and led at one point 77-56 before coasting home to an 80-66 victory.

While Ontario Christian was favored to win the Southern Regional Open championship and defeat a Sage Hill team it had beaten by 32 points in CIFSS Open Pool play, no one really could have imagined how last Tuesday’s game came out. Ontario Christian scored the game’s first 16 points and didn’t allow Sage Hill a basket until 4:27 left in the first quarter, and it got worse. After one quarter it was 34-4 and stood at 54-18 at the half. With that kind of a lead and against a quality team, the Knights couldn’t quite keep that up, and after giving up a 14-2 second-half run they still won easily in a game that wasn’t as close as the 73-51 final score indicates. Junior star Kaleena Smith led four players in double figure scoring with 20 points (two three-pointers) with six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior Dani Robinson added 17 points, including five three-pointers with three in the first quarter, plus four assists, sophomore Tati Griffin had a double-double 15 points (one three-pointers) and 10 rebounds, and freshman phenom Chloe Jenkins scored 14 points (6-for-6 on FTs) with nine rebounds.

When the same question was asked to both second-year head coach Aundre Cummings and Smith after the game, and that was did you feel you needed to make statement after the Seirra Canyon loss, the answer was the same from both. “Yes, we had to.”

Now, after making about as big statement you can make, Ontario Christian is heading to the big dance in the state capital for the very first time after falling short in Smith’s first two seasons.

On the other side of the coin is Archbishop Mitty. With Woliczko even healthier than she was in the first outing, which came only four days from her first game of the season back from the injury after a year of rehab, and with Monarchs’ head coach Sue Phillips trying to limit her minutes, Mitty may now have its best team ever. Besides the loss to Ontario Christian, the only other loss was 53-50 without Woliczko to a Maryland Bishop McNamara team that gave Ontario Christian its first loss of the season.

Mitty has not played anywhere near the level of talent Ontario Christian has either during the regular season or the playoffs, but down the stretch when those in Northern California attempting to end the Monarchs’ NorCal dominance failed miserably.

The CIF Northern Regional top seed hosted a San Ramon Valley team some thought at the beginning of the season could possibly challenge Mitty, and the result was a 76-46 victory behind a double-double 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists from Woliczko, 15 points and seven rebounds from sophomore Maliya Hunter and 12 points from junior Tee McCarthy. Against Clovis West in the NorCal Open title game, Mitty took charge from the opening tip and scored almost as many points in the first half with 38 as they gave up for the entire game in a 71-42 victory where Woliczko was rested in the fourth quarter. Junior Ze’ni Patterson had 19 points (four three-pointers, 5-for-5 on FTs, Woliczko had 16 points and nine rebounds and Hunter added 15 points and eight rebounds.

Mitty will be making its sixth straight state CIF Open Division championship game appearance and seventh overall, by far the most of any team, but legendary head coach Phillips and her Monarchs are still waiting to find paydirt. Will the eighth time be a charm? It would make a lot of people in the California girls basketball community happy to see Phillips and Mitty finally break through, and they got close in January to the Knights only to let it slip away, but the way Ontario Christian played earlier this week it will be a tough task.

Prediction: Ontario Christian 84, Archbishop Mitty 74

Prediction:

Division I Girls
State No. 11 Corona of Centennial (SoCal) 23-5 vs. State No. 9 Clovis 26-10 (NorCal), Friday, 6 p.m.

Back in November when we were compiling the preseason rankings, the word in the Southern California girls basketball community among many coaches and some analysts was the 2025-26 version of the Centennial Huskies could very well vie for the CIF Open Division state championship. We had heard that Matt Tumambing, the Huskies’ first-year head coach but no newcomer to the Inland Empire coaching ranks after coaching at Ontario Christian, was loaded with talent.

Although there was just one returning star, that happened to be senior 6-foot-4 McDonald’s All-American and Ms. double-double Cydnee Bryant. The rest of the roster was pretty much all transfers, including outstanding 6-foot-7 sophomore Sydney “Bean” Douglas, who transferred from Ontario Christian, and Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) transfer Armanyie Reed, whose family moved to the Inland Empire. There was also junior combo guard Kaleesa Howard, who moved to the Inland Empire from the Seattle area, plus sophomore Corona Santiago transfer Princess Poialii-Hunkin, and finally, transferring from Ontario Christian was sophomore guard Jelise Mix.

Even though Centennial drew raves and looked loaded on paper, because Tumambing could not even field a team with so many players having to sit out, there was no way we could start them off in the top five. Even so, and after seeing them missing their best player and only two of the transfers at the H.O.P.E. event in October, we decided to roll the dice and put them in the No. 6 spot and give them a chance to prove themselves when they finally began action. That first game turns out was not until December 26 when the Huskies routed Camarillo. At the time of the preseason rankings, we had said is Tumambing going to put this jigsaw puzzle together? What we saw was despite some growing pains and a rigorous schedule that had them playing so many games, they grew a little weary, and took losses to Sierra Canyon by seven, and back-to-back losses to JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) by 10 and by two to Anaheim Fairmont Prep. At that point, Centennial had to fall back behind the latter two.

Then, shortly before the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs began, Douglas fractured her finger and her status was in doubt. The Huskies lost both Pool play games to Oak Park and Sierra Canyon and dropped all the way from No. 7 to No. 17 in the rankings. Had they not defeated Saint Joseph of Lakewood, 66-55, in the play-in game behind a monster double-double 32 points and 19 rebounds by Bryant, Centennial’s season would have been over. With the win, the Huskies still only received the SoCal Division I No. 5 seed.

Although they tried to keep it quiet, the Bean came back for the first round regional game with Valencia and with her it produced a 27-point win. Next came Moreno Valley and the Huskies won 60-52. That got them a date with top-seeded Mater Dei and they went to Santa Ana and came away with an impressive 60-48 victory. At the time, we considered moving them to the top of the rankings for D1 teams and ahead of No. 2 seed Temecula Rancho Christian and NorCal top-seeded Clovis but decided to let things play itself out on the court. On Tuesday, Centennial went to Rancho Christian and won impressively, 81-61. In that game, Douglas, who according to family sources is about 80 percent recovered from the figure injury and still has it taped, had a double-double 27 points (one three-pointers) and 15 rebounds. Poialii-Hunkin had 20 points with two three-pointers, Ms. double-double Bryant added 17 points (two three-pointers) with 21 rebounds, and Reed had nine points, nine rebounds and 15 assists. Centennial out-rebounded Rancho Christian 53-31 and held freshman phenom Addison Archer to 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. To say Centennial is on a roll with Bean back and at full strength is a bit on an understatement.

Believe it or not, with all the success Centennial has had, including 2021 when the Huskies defeated La Jolla Country Day, Clovis West and Mater Dei in the playoffs and went 25-1, this will be the first CIF state championship appearance for the Huskies. That 2021 team, however, would have been in the Open Division state final were it not for COVID and was named State Team of the Year.

“We’re excited to represent Centennial in its first state championship appearance,” Tumambing said. “This would be an amazing cap to the end of our season where we’ve faced so much adversity. I would like nothing better than to send McDonald’s All-American and Kansas commit Cydnee Bryant off with a state title.”

The opponent for Centennial on Friday night with be Clovis, who won the Northern Regional Division I title with a solid 76-59 victory over Fresno Central East for a fourth victory this season over their Tri-Rivers Athletic Conference rivals.

Senior Milly Rojas exploded for 29 points on 9-for-15 from three-point range. Long Beach State-bound senior Sadie Sin had a triple-double 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Clovis got to the match-up with Central East, and subsequently with Centennial, by virtue of a 47-37 win over Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman, a 62-55 victory versus San Francisco St. Ignatius and a 52-40 win over Priory of Portola Valley. The Cougars also had a split with Clovis West of Fresno in league before losing to the Golden Eagles in the CIF Central Section Division 1 championship title game. While the teams Clovis has faced, including Clovis West, are very good, head coach Cooper Steele and his Cougars have not seen anything like Centennial at full strength, even Clovis West.

We never like to predict lopsided results in CIF state championship title games, and we have the utmost respect for Steele and his girls, who won the Platinum Division of the West Coast Jamboree with a victory over Kamehameha Kapalana of Hawaii, but they are truly going to the mountains literally in facing this team with its twin towers.

Prediction: Centennial 68, Clovis 54

Division II Girls
St. Joseph of Santa Maria 17-15 (SoCal) vs. Sierra Pacific of Hanford 24-11 (NorCal), Sat. 2 p.m.

Like the D2 boys state final that will follow, these two teams are both from the CIF Central Section with one qualifying by winning a SoCal final and the other from winning in the north. Unlike the boys, though, St. Joseph and Sierra Pacific have not played each other this year and neither one could be called a favorite to reach Golden 1 Center.

Sierra Pacific had to erase a 14-point deficit in the second half to come back and beat Oakland Tech, 66-62 in overtime, on Tuesday in the NorCal final. The comeback seemed to began almost as soon as we tweeted out that Tech was ahead and looking to win a sixth CIF state title. Instead, the Bulldogs headed home with a loss and the Golden Bears were packing for a trip. Nyang Ayuen had a huge night for the winners and finished with 32 points. The team’s leading scorer has been Apajok Ayuen at 15.7 ppg.

St. Joseph avenged an earlier loss to Saugus on Tuesday with a 60-66 win over the Centurions to book its ticket to Sacramento. It’s been a balanced attack for the Knights with Skyler Moscardi, Maava Sat and Ali Mayes all averaging around 11 ppg.

Both teams have a lot of losses, similar to Harvard-Westlake at 19-18 and winning it all in 2024, and both have played and lost to D1 and Open Division opponents. Both teams also have won CIF state titles before. For Sierra Pacific, that came in 2018 in D5 vs Lowell of San Francisco. For St. Joe, that came in 2011 in D3 vs Bishop O’Dowd of Sacramento. The Knights clearly had better teams the past few seasons with multi-year all-state standout Avary Cain (UCLA), but those teams were in D1. This group can go all the way in D2 with a lot of the same players other than Cain. The difference just seems like Sierra Pacific did better against some of the common oppoents both teams had.

Prediction: Sierra Pacific 62, St. Joseph (SM) 55

Division III Girls
El Dorado of Placentia 23-14 (SoCal) vs. Valley Christian of San Jose 16-15 (NorCal), Friday, 2 pm

Whether it’s a good thing or not that teams that went 2-6 and 2-8 in their leagues are going to meet to play for a CIF state title is up for debate. But the reality of competitive equity divisions for the CIF is here, and it’s going to happen in all sports and in all divisions, especially below the first three.

Both El Dorado and Valley Christian play in strong leagues, especially the Warriors in the West Catholic Athletic League (Archbishop Mitty, Riordan, St. Ignatius, etc.). El Dorado did have two wins over league foe Canyon of Anaheim after losing to the Comanches early in the season. The Golden Hawks rallied to beat Leuzinger of Lawndale, 61-56, on Tuesday to win the CIF D3 SoCal title. They are looking to win their first CIF state title. VC had a more interesting path to reach the state final. The Warriors, who also have not won a CIF state title before, took on 29-1 Scotts Valley in the CIF Central Coast Section playoffs and won, 42-36. They also had a 40-36 win in the NorCal D3 final over a Menlo-Atherton team that came into the matchup at 24-5.

El Dorado senior standout Delany Shiring had 26 points and seven rebounds vs Leuzinger and Kennedy Wood was right behind with 25 points. Valley Christian’s four-year starting guard Kenedi Nomura can score like that as well and is expected to be a four-year all-league honoree.

Predicted Score: Valley Christian 39, El Dorado 36

Division IV Girls
Palisades of Pacific Palisades 16-13 (SoCal) vs Faith Christian of Yuba City 33-1 (NorCal), Saturday 10 am

There’s a ton of history to go over as these two schools get set to play for a CIF state title.

First for Palisades, the school obviously is still recovering from the January 2025 devastating wildfire that destroyed much of the campus. There was a chance that both the Dolphin boys and Dolphin girls would be playing for state titles in Sacramento, but the boys lost in the D2 region finals. This weekend, there’s also going to be a big fund-raising event for recovery hosted by comedian Jay Leno. Maybe there will be something to celebrate there as well.

Palisades may have 13 losses, but this is D4 and the Dolphins were in the L.A. City Section Open Division. They’ve never won a CIF state title, but they’ve been very close and in higher divisions. In 2020, the team won the CIF SoCal D2 regional title but the state final vs Oakland Tech was cancelled when COVID broke out. Last year’s team went to the CIF SoCal D3 regional semifinal and lost by just 57-55 to Mater Dei Catholic (which went on to lose in the state final to Marin Catholic). There also was a 68-66 loss to McFarland in the CIF SoCal D3 final and a 49-48 loss in the school’s only other CIF state final appearance, which was in D1, and it came to Archbishop Mitty (which capped the only unbeaten season in Mitty’s history).

Riley Oku led Palisades with 18 points in its 54-38 regional final win on Tuesday vs No. 2 seed Godinez of Santa Ana. The Dolphins had eliminated top seed Marina of Huntington Beach, 61-49, in their previous game.

This history for tiny Faith Christian is more recent. The Lions have won three straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section titles and last year won the CIF NorCal D6 crown. Moving up this year was going to happen but how high? The CIF placed the team in D4, but with just one loss (to a Chico team that was in the NorCal D1 playoffs) and with a win over Placer of Auburn (which actually was seeded No. 1 in the NorCal D3 playoffs), D4 to many seemed too low. While it made the girls a favorite to go all the way in D4, it hasn’t been easy. Miramonte of Orinda and Liberty Ranch of Galt both lost in close upset bids before Faith Christian won by a more comfortable 61-46 margin in the NorCal final on Tuesday vs Lathrop. The Lathrop win was significant since the Spartans came in at 33-1 (best record in the state boys or girls). Faith’s win put it at 33-1 and now it can make that claim. If the Lions end 34-1, they will make a state record list but there have been 36-0, 35-1, and other 34-win state title teams from the SJS.

Individually, of course, Faith Christian has a lot to go over with four-year star Lauren Harris. Headed for Long Beach State, Harris already had the state record for career three-pointers coming into the season and set the national record as a senior. She enters the state final with 739 three-pointers (previous state record was 486). She had 27 vs Lathrop and 47 vs Liberty Ranch and now has 1,062 points for the season. That is 16th in state history right now and she could move up to 13th by the end of Saturday. Harris also has 3,552 career points and has passed Cheryl Miller and Chloe Briggs (Ontario Christian) into third on the all-state list. That’s also where she’s going to finish since she won’t reach the No. 2 (3,837 pts) or the No. 1 total (4,300) on that list. For career scoring average, Cheryl Miller’s 33.8 ppg is safe. Lauren’s is at 28.4, which is kind of funny since her older sister, Audrey, had a 28.5 career scoring average in her four seasons at Faith Christian (the last two coming when Lauren was a freshman and sophomore).

After going through all that, we still have to make a pick. We’ll still stick with our first inclination when the CIF pairings came out, but Palisades shouldn’t be a pushover.

Prediction: Faith Christian 67, Palisades 59

Division V Girls
Laguna Hills 21-11 (SoCal) vs. Woodland Christian 32-3 (NorCal), Friday, 10:00 am

The first game of the weekend in Sacramento will see the defending champions from Woodland Christian looking to make it two straight D5 state titles with a win over the Hawks.

The Cardinals were not the top seed in the NorCal bracket, but probably should have been since the team they lost to in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, Bret Harte of Altaville, was placed up in D4. The girls had to win an overtime game in the quarterfinals, but got past John Adams Academy in the semifinals and went up to Alturas near the Oregon border and beat top seed Modoc of Alturas, 49-36. It’s even more of a family affair for the Cardinals this year than last year when they defeated Rosamond to win their first state title. That’s because freshman Sofia Sorbello (12.3 ppg) has joined the starting lineup alongside junior sister Siena Sorbello, the leading scorer at 15.9 ppg and is a player who can be dominant up front. Their dad, Shiloh, has returned as head coach as well. Having Sofia come up has helped replace two graduated starters, including 2025 State D5 Player of the Year Teagan Hayes.

As for Laguna Hills, many may not remember but the Hawks came to the CIF state finals in 1997 where they defeated Newark-Memorial, 41-40, to win the D2 state title. That was in the years when lower division teams could be ranked No. 1 in the state and that’s what happened with the Hawks, who had a 31-3 final record and were led by one of the best girls athletes in Orange County history, 6-foot-6 Tayyeba Haneef, who went on to became a mainstay for the USA national team in volleyball and was our 1996-97 State Girls Athlete of the Year. The school also was a runner-up in the D3 state final. This year’s team bounced back from a loss to league rival Kennedy of La Palma in the CIFSS playoffs and has gone on a run in the D5 bracket. Head coach Jim Martin (in his 28th season) and team took out top seed Rosamond in the regional semifinals (a team that was looking to win a second straight D5 region title). The Hawks then beat Schurr of Montebello, 43-27, behind sophomore Keira McDermott, who scored 22 points. Keira’s older sister, Cameron, is the team’s leading scorer at 14.1 ppg.

Prediction: Woodland Christian 45, Laguna Hills 42

Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports