Corona Centennial’s Armanyie Reed (left) drives to the hoop against defense of Clovis standout Sadie Sin. At right, senior point guard Elijah Smith from Damien of La Verne gets a good grip on CIF D1 state title trophy after team’s win vs Folsom. Photos: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
Damien of La Verne continues CIF Southern Section dominance in D1 boys with win over Folsom. The D1 girls title also was won by a CIFSS school as Centennial of Corona topped Clovis. Other winners on the day were Cornerstone Christian (D3 boys), El Dorado of Placentia (D3 girls), San Marin of Novato (D5 boys) and Woodland Christian (D5 girls). Go inside for our historical look at all six of Friday’s games from the Golden 1 Center.
Note: We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. Next week’s final state rankings in all divisions boys and girls, expanded overall final rankings and some of our exclusive upcoming all-state teams (including juniors, sophomores and frosh) will be for Gold Club members only. Sign up today for our Gold Club for $4.99 per month or as low as $2.08 per month for a yearly subscription. For details, CLICK HERE.
Note: Our lead boys basketball analyst, Ronnie Flores, did the breakdowns for D1 boys & D3 boys. Our lead girls basketball analyst, Harold Abend, did the breakdowns for D1 girls & D5 girls. Editor and publisher Mark Tennis did the rest.
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The CIF D1 state championship game for the boys on Friday was a tale of two well-coached teams looking for state hardware after bouncing back from losses at the section playoff level. In the end, it was Damien of La Verne under head coach Mike LeDuc (more than 1,000 career wins) getting past Folsom, 58-55, under head coach Mike Wall (more than 500 wins).
For the Bulldogs from NorCal, it was bouncing back from a loss to current state No. 23 Sheldon of Sacramento in the CIF Sac Joaquin Section D1 semifinals. For Damien of La Verne from SoCal, it was having the fortitude of bouncing back from a 1-2 showing in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs, including a do-or-die regional play in game. Damien had to play Baseline League foe Etiwanda (currently ranked No. 19 in the state) in a rubber match with the loser not qualifying for the regional. After that, the Spartans advanced past a host of state ranked teams in the D1 south bracket and finished their season with six consecutive victories over highly-ranked opponents.
The CIFSS open division teams continue to dominate in this division and in the current system of pulling up four teams from the massive section to the SoCal open with the others dropping down to D1 will likely continue that domination. Damien’s victory gives the CIFSS a fifth consecutive victory for a “bounce back” club in D1. The last time a non-CIFSS team won in this division? Try San Ramon Valley of Danville in 2015, when it defeated Lonzo Ball-led Chino Hills in double overtime.
Folsom’s Parks Weaver, one of the top sophs in Northern California, operates against the tough defense of Damien’s Elijah Garner. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
Both teams executed well in the first half, running their sets and getting quality shots. Each team had five turnovers, but Damien missed 3-of-18 three-pointers, while Folsom connected on 3-of-8. The second quarter was one of runs, but Folsom (29-7) likely let Damien off the hook after it missed so many field goals in the first half. Leaving those points on the table hurt Folsom when the game was in the balance.
The back breaking play for Folsom came with just over a minute to go in the game on a huge offensive rebound by Damien’s leading player, senior forward Elijah Garner. Folsom trailed 52-47 and the pro-Folsom crowd had given the Bulldogs some life down the stretch. Garner’s rebound led to an extra possession and even though a pass was tipped by a Folsom defender, it went straight into the hands of junior sharpshooter Zaire Rasshan, who nailed a straightaway 3-pointer to take the wind of the Bulldogs’ sails with a 55-47 lead.
“We knew it was a great program with a great coach and we knew we had to be as tough as them and as smart as them,” LeDuc said. “We got that run (10-0 in third quarter) and that’s something we’ve been doing in a lot of these games. We’ve also been playing incredible defense.”
Damien, which did a terrific defensive job on 6-foot-10 All-American Christian Collins in the SoCal D1 final (holding him to zero first half points), controlled the boards on Friday evening at the Golden 1 Center and Garner’s play was a microcosm of the Spartans’ performance. Damien out-rebounded Folsom, 32-21, and had a 11-2 advantage on the offensive boards.
“I very much thought we were similarly matched, similarly coached, except for one thing and that’s rebounds,” Wall said. “Their rebounds gave them a lot of extra shots. Their 10-0 run to start the second half was brutal. We never quite recovered. We didn’t get shots off for the first four minutes.”
Garner finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The leading scorers for Damien with 18 points each were Rasshan, who nailed five 3-pointers, including three in the second half, and senior point guard Elijah Smith, who also stole five rebounds using his quickness and smarts.
Damien (32-7) is now 3-0 in CIF state title games, having won its first in 2015 in D3 under current St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn and five years ago in D1 when the streak of CIFSS bounce back state title teams began. That year, LeDuc won his first CIF state crown and will enter the 2026-27 season with a 1,127-288 all-time mark. Folsom is now 1-2, having lost in D2 in 2014 to St. John Bosco (coached then by Derrick Taylor) after winning in D3 during the three-division era in 1985.
“I knew how well we competed in the Open Division,” Garner said. “We knew we could do well in D1. That’s what we did.”
In the second quarter, Damien used a 11-0 run, capped by a lay-up by sophomore C.J. Murray (seven points), to go up 27-20, only to see Folsom answer with a 8-0 run to end the first half to take a 27-26 halftime lead. After missing 15 first half 3-pointers, the Spartans were pumped up to see long range bombs by Rasshan and Smith go down to key the 10-0 run to begin the third period. Folsom didn’t end the drought until 3:20 to go in the third quarter on a field goal by Idaho St-bound Joven Dulay. A 17-10 advantage for Damien in that third period and those offensive rebounds were crushing blows for Folsom it could not overcome despite a valiant effort.
Dulay and sophomore guard Parks Weaver led Folsom with 16 points each. No other Bulldog hit double figures, with Southern Oregon-bound Jack Shull netting nine points.
There were 10 lead changes in the game and the largest for Folsom was four points during the second period. The Bulldogs wished that lead was just a bit more after going down by 13 points late in the third period, a deficit that proved to be a 3-point basket too much against a team as talented as Damien.
D1 Girls
Centennial (Corona) 73, Clovis 66
Despite being ranked No. 11 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports state rankings and Clovis at No. 9, the girls from the Inland Empire came into the matchup with the girls from the Central Valley as a favorite win the state championship in this division.
Part of the reason for that is Centennial was on a roll for the past three weeks and was almost completely at full strength with 6-foot-7 sophomore Sydney “Bean” Douglas at around 80 percent recovered from a fractured finger, and she was joined in the middle by 6-foot-4 Cydnee Bryant to give the Huskies and its twin towers a decided height advantage over the Cougars.
Centennial (24-5) came out on top, but not before Clovis gave the Huskies all they could handle in the first state CIF title-game appearance for both schools.
Long Beach State-bound Sadie Sin of Clovis tries to turn the corner against 6-foot-7 Sidney Douglas of Corona Centennial. Photo: Isai Gutierrez.
“Today was a big one for us with the crazy season we’ve had and having to overcome some adversity,” said Centennial head coach Matt Tumambing. “We only had one returning starter, our McDonald’s All-American Cydnee Bryant, and not being to start our season until December 26. Plus, we had to overcome injuries with the biggest one being Sydney being out for six weeks with a finger injury.”
While Bryant, who will play both basketball and volleyball at Kansas this fall, was the only player at Centennial last year, the remaining staters were all transfers. That include Douglas, who transferred from Ontario Christian, and junior Armanyie Reed, who came over from Torrance Bishop Montgomery. Sophomore Princess Poialii-Hunkin transferred from crosstown Santiago. The others were sophomore Jelise Mix and junior Kaleesa Howard.
Then, after losing both games in CIFSS pool play, Centennial was close to being eliminated from the playoffs.
“We had to play in a play-in game to just qualify for state,” Tumambing continued. “But we just figured it out and had a mentality of ‘let’s keep it rolling.’”
After the CIF Southern Section play-in 66-55 victory over Lakewood St. Joseph, Centennial only received the No. 5 seed in the CIF Southern Regional playoffs. Centennial had enjoyed a huge rebounding advantage in its 67-40 victory over Valencia, then got a 62-50 victory versus Moreno Valley, a 60-48 victory over top-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei and a 53-31 boards advantage in a 81-61 win over No. 2 seed Rancho Christian of Temecula.
Against Clovis, the Huskies only had a 33-29 rebounding advantage, plus the Cougars kept themselves in the game by hitting on 11-for-22 from three-point range.
In some respects, the biggest difference was not the size advantage by the play of Reed. She handled the ball, controlled the pace and finished was a game-high 25 points, plus seven rebounds, seven assists, and she was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Douglas added a double-double 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Bryant also had a double-double after finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds with five assists. Poialii-Hunkin chipped in with 12 points.
Clovis (26-11) scored the game’s first five points but by the end of the first quarter it as 15-10 Centennial. The Cougars went on a 7-0 run to lead 17-15 but the teams went back and forth and it was tied 33-33 at the half.
Centennial got the lead to 52-45 after three quarters and 62-54 midway through the fourth quarter but a 5-0 run cut it 62-59, but Clovis could not get over the hump and trailed 73-63 for the largest deficit before a three-pointer by Yazmin Aguilera at the buzzer was the game’s final tally.
“At the half we just talked about locking a little more of defense,” Tumambing said. “We went man-to-man and took away a lot there three-point shots and that helped. They only had four in the second half and one was at the end of the game.”
Reed, who is not known as a big scorer, had a phenomenal game.
“Just knowing my teammates and my coaches can trust me, and though scoring is something I can do as a point guard, finding the open person is what I do best,” said Reed.
Bryant may be 6-foot-4 but she made one NBA-range three-pointers and finished 3-for-8 from outside the high school arc.
“I’m grateful to be put in a position where I’m a fairly good shooter,” Brayant remarked. “I’m glad I got to contribute and I’m going to Kansas with a ring on my finger.”
Douglas missed her first four shots but found her stride to finish 8-of-15 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
“It kind of helped me knowing I was shooting with a men’s ball the first two minutes,” Douglas said with a laugh. “But after that I just trusted in myself and my teammates and knew we were going to win this together.”
The game began with a men’s ball before the officials realized it and changed it out to the smaller women’s ball.
Aguilera hit for 21 points, all on seven three-pointers, which was a new CIF Division I title-game record. Long Beach State-bound senior Sadie Sin added 19 points and seven assists, and junior Amieya Walters finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
“Our girls had an incredible season, and I knew they would be ready for the moment,” Clovis head coach Cooper Steele said. “They absolutely came to fight and battled their butts off.
“They left everything on the court and we were a couple of bounces away at the end,” Steele continued. “The ultimate goal was to be in the Open Division and we didn’t quite make it, but I think these girls are one of the best groups in the state.”
This was only the first state championship in the first appearance for Centennial, but the Huskies would have been in the Open Division for the 2021 season had not COVID halted the state championships. That year, they were 25-1 and were named the State Team of the Year. Centennial won’t be the State Team of the Year this season, but will alway be the 2026 state CIF Division I state champions.
James Perry Jr. of Cornerstone Christian raises CIF D3 state championship trophy. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
Boys D3
Cornerstone Christian (Antioch) 74,
Birmingham (Lake Balboa) 64
Stepping up from winning two previous CIF NorCal D6 championships that don’t count as a state title, the Cougars showed that D3 was theirs for the taking. The small school of just 145 students in East Contra Costa County won their first-ever state title and became the first school from their part of the county to win a state title. It’s where communities like Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley and Discovery Bay are located.
“At the beginning of the year, we said the one thing we wanted was to win league, win NCS (CIF North Coast Section) and whatever division they placed us in that we’d win state,” said Cornerstone Christian head coach Michael Thomasson, whose team capped a 29-8 season. “They made those words come true and I’m proud of everyone.”
The victorious Cougars got out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, but after the first basket of the second quarter the Patriots had tied the score at 16-16. From there, Cornerstone went on a 11-0 run to take a 27-16 lead and at halftime the Cougars had a 35-23 lead, thanks to a basket at buzzer by James Perry Jr.
Birmingham (22-8) wasn’t quite done despite trailing 53-36 entering the fourth quarter. The Patriots got it to 62-55 with four minutes left but that was it after a basket by freshman Alkeise Boddie of Cornerstone and then a three-pointer by junior Ben Lukacs.
“We showed flashes, but didn’t do enough,” said Birmingham head coach and Patriots’ alum Nicholas Halic. “But I reminded (the players) that they made history. It’s the furthest that a boys or girls team from this school has ever gone.
“I’m heartbroken, but I’m hoping we can learn. For me, whatever more means to get there, I’m going to do it.”
Cornerstone’s path to Sacramento included a 60-58 win over Priory of Portola Valley, which won the CIF D4 state title last year (with almost everyone back), and a road win at Willow Glen of San Jose, which entered at 26-2 overall.
Perry Jr. has been the team’s leading scorer for the season at 17.0 ppg, but in the playoffs Lukacs has been on a roll. He led all scorers on Friday with 26 points (on 11-of-14 shooting) plus he had eight assists, three steals and two blocks. Perry had 16 points and five assists.
“We’ve just been dealing with adversity the whole season,” Lukacs said. “We understood they might come back with some tough runs. We just have a lot of faith in each other and having that trust makes all the difference.”
Junior Takeio Phillips, who was a member of teams as a freshman and sophomore at Chatsworth the last two seasons that lost in CIF D4 and D2 state finals, led Birmingham with 17 points. X’zavion McKay (16 points) and Charles Eleri (12 points) also reached double figures.
Girls D3
El Dorado (Placentia) 42,
Valley Christian (San Jose) 40
Defense or burning time off the clock without committing a turnover may not be sexy, but those factors were huge for the Golden Hawks as they held on to win their first-ever CIF state title.
Delany Shiring made plays for El Dorado of Placentia throughout the course of the CIF D3 regional playoffs and led the Golden Hawks with 15 points in the state final. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Valley Christian had shaved a 39-32 deficit with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter down to 41-40 with 37 seconds left on a layup by Anaya Bannarbie. El Dorado played keep-away after that, forced the Warriors to commit fouls and finally in the bonus with 13.1 seconds left Riley Morikawa was fouled and was shooting free throws. Morikawa made one free throw, but then missed (her team’s first free throw miss of the game after 11-for-11) and that gave VC a shot to tie on a two-point field goal or win the game on a three-pointer after the rebound was collected.
Leading Valley Christian player Kenedi Nomura (game-high 18 points) drove the lane looking to score, but the Golden Hawks blocked her way. No foul was called and the ball bounced off a VC player with 1.8 seconds left. There wasn’t much that the Warriors could do after that.
“We had a foul to give and definitely didn’t want to give up a three,” said El Dorado head coach Matthew Raya when asked about the key sequence. “It was good help defense and luckily the ball went off of them out-of-bounds.”
Raya earlier in the post-game press conference mentioned that defense was important all season long.
“It was a heck of a game and a very long journey for us to get to this game,” he said. “We had our work cut out for us today, but our defense has stepped up all season and got stops when we needed it.”
To get that 39-32 lead with 4:24 left, Delaney Shiring netted a three-pointer for the Golden Hawks that came after a missed lay-up by the Warriors. Instead of it being 36-34, the score went to 39-32. On that same play, El Dorado starter Alaina Zamora went down with an ankle injury and had to be carried to the bench.
“After she got hurt, we just got tough (on defense) and we knew we had to pull through,” said Shiring, who led El Dorado with 15 points (plus six rebounds and three blocks). “We executed well at the end.”
While El Dorado isn’t from as famed a league as Valley Christian (from the West Catholic Athletic League), the Golden Hawks (24-14) are from a solid league of their own. One recent result that was noticed was a 47-41 loss to a Villa Park team that has been in the State TOP 30 rankings earlier in the season.
Valley Christian wrapped up its season at an even 16-16, but head coach Steve Yob had to be happy with the team’s post-season run, which included regional wins over Scotts Valley (was 29-1 entering the game) and Menlo-Atherton (was 24-5).
“Our goals were that we wanted to be in the (CCS) Open or win a CCS title,” Yob said. “Until that Sunday when the (CIF) pairings came out, I thought we had a chance and got it going. We played ourselves literally to within one shot of winning a state title.”
Boys D5
San Marin (Novato) 89,
Sylmar 64
In a game featuring veteran coaches and programs looking to win their first CIF state title, it was a fast-paced and entertaining affair to tip off the boys games at the CIF championships. It was a game of runs and Sylmar was able to keep pace until q barrage of turnovers led to San Marin layups. The dam eventually broke on Sylmar in the second half, as San Marin captured the program’s first CIF state title.
San Marin’s Chris Lavdiotis, at age 73, is believed to be one of the oldest head coaches to win a CIF state boys basketball title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
San Marin (22-13) outscored Sylmar (24-13), 50-27, in the second half and essentially beat the Spartans at their own game. Sylmar gave up 68 points in the paint while San Marin gave up 30, as the Mustangs won their first CIF state title by breaking the Spartans’ press repeatedly.
San Marin led Sylmar, 39-37, at halftime after the Spartans outscored the Mustangs 20-8 in the second quarter. San Marin, a good passing team, scored 31 points in the first quarter with 15 field goals and nine assists to get off on the right foot with a 31-17 lead. San Marin ended the game with 25 assists, while Sylmar had nine.
“I told this team every game is a gift, and these guys focus on every day and the last six weeks is a dream,” said San Marin head coach Chris Lavdiotis. “Today is a culmination of that time and I have to say these guys, oh my gosh, they never let up. Don’t wake me up.”
Senior Miller Morgan led San Marin with 25 points and four assists. Grid-Hooper Jackson Young added 15 points and 10 rebounds while providing toughness and intensity after not playing basketball for over a year and deciding to come out for the team in his senior season. Four seniors scored in double figures for the Mustangs, as Kellen Dunning finished with 16 points while guard Grant Means added 12.
Both teams had defining moments at a specific point of the season. For San Marin, it was not being invited to its league playoffs. San Marin then lost in the North Coast Section playoffs to Mission San Jose (Fremont), but came back to beat that same team in the NorCal D5 final, 56-46.
Sylmar was 6-11 to begin the season, but veteran coach Bort Escoto changed up the offense to speed up the pace and make the game fun for his players. It worked, as the Spartans went on a 16-game winning streak until Friday afternoon’s loss. The Spartans, long known for their football program, won the L.A. City Section D2 championship.
“They did a good job of slowing us down and couldn’t keep the pace up,” said Escoto. “We live with that, we’re okay if we can keep up the pace, usually we make those shots. I can live with the turnovers. We accept the turnovers and layups, because they have to come back and defend. Being realistic, I didn’t think we could get this far because I thought we could be in D3 and D4.”
Senior Rob Winn led Sylmar with 26 points and six rebounds. The other double-digit scorer for the Spartans was sophomore guard Aiden Garcia with 14. Garcia added seven steals.
“We usually shoot a lot of threes, but our game plan was to get to the rim, watching them on film, we thought they were vulnerable in that area,” said Lavdiotis. “I thought the pace was to our liking and our team was deeper.
San Marin, which has eight football players on its roster, has won two CIF state titles, one in Division 5-AA in 2021 and in 4-A in 2022 when San Marin’s current crop of seniors were freshman.
Woodland Christian head coach Shiloh Sorbello poses with daughter Siena on his right and daughter Sofia on his left. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
Girls Division V
Woodland Christian 63, Laguna Hills 30
The 2026 CIF state championship action kicked off with the 10 am girls Division title-game match-up between defending D5 state champion Woodland Christian and Laguna Hills.
The game started with Woodland Christian (33-3) scoring the game’s first two baskets, but after falling behind 5-4 the Cardinals went on an 18-0 run and from there they stretched it to a 33-11 lead at halftime. At that point, the final outcome was pretty much a done deal. The lead continued to grow and the final score was in fact the biggest lead of the game.
“We keyed on their two best players and our girls executed the game plan perfect,” remarked Woodland Christian head coach Shiloh Sorbello.
Siena Sorbello, a 6-foot junior, and the eldest of two sisters playing for Coach
Sorbello, led all scorers with 21 points, plus six rebounds, two steals and two assists. Junior Bailee Broward added with a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds, and speedy freshman Annabell Baker had a near triple-double after finishing with nine points, nine rebounds and eight steals. Freshman Sofia Sorbello had seven points and 13 assists.
Senior Marisol Bahena led Laguna Hills (21-12) with nine points. Woodland Christian is now 2-0 in CIF state title game appearances and Laguna Hills falls to 1-2. In 1997, the Hawks won the D2 state title and at 31-3 were named State Team of the Year.
In both the last two years of winning state championships, Woodland Christian did not win a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title. Although last year the Cardinals were the No. 1 seed in the regionals, this year they were seeded sixth. That meant all their games except the first round were on the road, including a trip to Salinas Palma where they eked out a 37-36 win in overtime, a game in Alturas (near the Oregon border) where they defeated top-seeded Modoc, 49-36, and a NorCal Regional championship 56-46 win at John Adams Academy of El Dorado Hills.
“This year we were road warriors,” said Coach Sorbello. “Our focus next year well be to win a section title.”
Ronnie Flores is the managing editor of CalHiSports.com. He can
be reached at ronlocc1977@gmail.com.
Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
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
