Junior forward Layla Dixon (left) from Carondelet of Concord shoots a jumper over the defense of Sage Hill’s Eve Fowler during Friday’s CIF D1 state final in Sacramento,. At right, Max Adams from Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth blocks a shot attempt by Lincoln of Stockton’s Donez Lindsey during the D1 boys final. Photos: Samuel Stringer / Cal-Hi Sports.
Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth boys make the plays in the final 90 seconds of the Division I championship game to turn back Lincoln of Stockton to win school’s fourth CIF state title. Carondelet of Concord girls win their second state title with a similar win in their D1 state final. Others claiming state crowns at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento were San Gabriel Academy (D3 boys), Marin Catholic of Kentfield (D3 girls), International of San Francisco (D5 boys) and Woodland Christian (D5 girls). We have all of the historical angles covered since that’s what we do best.
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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There has been a James (with the Lakers’ Bronny or his younger brother Bryce) for the past six years in greater L.A. basketball, but because of COVID-19 and awfully tough competition in the CIF Southern Section Open Division, the Sierra Canyon team that the brothers have played for had not been in a CIF state final until Friday night at the Golden 1 Center.
Lincoln of Stockton came into game not just excited to be there, but had firm intentions of getting a win. In the end, Sierra Canyon made the plays down the stretch to secure a 58-53 win.
With word that Bryce’s dad and NBA superstar LeBron James would be in the building, a large contingent of Lincoln supporters widely cheered his entrance and some cheered for his son Bryce during the starting lineups.
When the game started, however, a funny thing happened. When Lincoln took an early 12-8 lead, the crowd grew eerily silent. It’s as if Lincoln was excepting a powerhouse club to turn it on against the underdogs. When the crowd realized the Trojans could play with Trailblazers, they started to cheer their positive moves loudly. The crowd of approximately, 7,000 fans gave Lincoln a big boost, but in the end, Sierra Canyon wore Lincoln down on the boards and made the necessary plays to win a state title in the CIF’s second highest classification.
Bryce James of Sierra Canyon jockeys for position playing defense during CIF D1 state championship game. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
The game was close, but even as early as the second quarter, there was a sense Lincoln was leaving chips on the table against a battle-tested team with a few more playmakers. With Lincoln leading 50-48, Sierra Canyon junior forward Max Adams made huge plays in the final 1:50 to help his team secure the CIF crown. He hit a 3-pointer to give the Trailblazers a 51-50 lead. Lincoln’s Anthony Moore, a talented wing guard bound for Weber State, then hit one of two free throws to tie the game. With 40 seconds remaining, Adams came up with a big blocked shot after his teammate Bryce Cofield scored on a knifing move to give the Trailblazers a 53-51 lead, then Adams finished Sierra Canyon’s offensive possession with a conventional 3-point play underneath the basket after Lincoln chose not to stop the clock because both teams were in the bonus.
That Adams sequence made the score 56-51 and essentially sealed the contest for the Trailblazers. Adams finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Cofield, who committed to Cal-State Fullerton after the game, finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Moore, who made one more basket after Adams’ final play, tied for a team-high with 18 points to go along with 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-5 senior made 7-of-12 free throws.
“The coaches tell me to keep shooting so I thought ‘Why not’ and let it fly,” Adams said about the big three-pointer. “At the end, I was just doing like coach said and that’s to have the will and the want to win.”
“A lot of us grew up watching Sierra Canyon, watching Bronny and now watching Bryce,” Moore said. “As soon as LeBron walked in, everybody was looking at him. I had to stay composed when he was helping me up that one time.”
Sierra Canyon’s last CIF state title came in 2019, the second of two consecutive Open Division tiles. Its first title came with a sophomore-oriented bunch in 2015 in D5, as that talented core never returned at the open level the next two seasons. Since that 20014-17 core added Marvin Bagley as seniors, Sierra Canyon has had 10 other future NBA players roll through its campus and some ultra-talented teams. It culminated with back-to-back CIF open crowns in 2018 and 2019 but the program’s third title under head coach Andre Chevalier (and fourth overall) had to be quite satisfying. There is no guarantee, but there may not be two or three future NBA players on this roster.
“Kudos to the opponent, they were amazing and gave us everything we can handle,” Chevalier said. “We have found ways in these last games to come out with a victory. We prefer the Open (Division), but this was hard as hell. Having this banner is going to be like a world championship and getting the rings is going to be like a world championship. This is a magnificent accomplishment for this group.”
Similar to Lincoln (31-5), Sierra Canyon (27-7) didn’t win its league title, battled to a 2-2 finish in the CIFSS open playoffs and dropped down to the SoCal D1 playoffs. In fact, Sierra Canyon’s core had some similar traits to Lincoln: tough, gritty and a never-say-die attitude. Gavin Hightower, who was in the right place at the right time for a conventional 3-point play in the SoCal D1 final victory over state No. 9 Redondo Union, had some critical rebounds in this game as well that kept key Sierra Canyon possessions alive. Hightower finished with team-highs in points (15) and rebounds (nine), while also making 7-of-8 free throws.
Lincoln took a 27-23 lead at halftime after four-year guard Donez Lindsey converted a contested lay-up right before the halftime buzzer. The crowd went crazy for Lincoln and was looking for something to help the Trojans surge ahead in the third quarter, but it was a stalemate. Lincoln didn’t convert a field goal for half the quarter, but Sierra Canyon was 1-of-15 from 3-point range at the time. Lincoln, at the end of the day, needed a field goal to drop and its free throws to fall. The Trojans made 11-of-18 free throws and was out-rebounded, 44-32.
Lincoln’s Donez Lindsey had the Sacramento-Stockton crowd rocking in the third quarter and helped his team to a 50-47 lead with less than three minutes left in the game. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
Lindsey, who sparked the crowd with his off the dribble 3-pointers, tied Moore with a team-high 18 points. He made 3-of-4 on 3-pointers and also came up with four steals. Highly-touted freshman Tre Simmons only scored two points before fouling out late in the game, as the Trojans’ big guns battled foul trouble in the fourth period.
Since the CIFSS created its own Open Division where the CIF state usually grabs the top four Southern Section teams for the SoCal open regional, the CIFSS has dominated this division. Only in 2018 and 2019 when Onyeka Okongwu-led Chino Hills won back-to-back after winning the CIFSS D1 crown and beating section open teams to get to Sacramento, has a non-CIFSS open team represented SoCal since the section open playoffs were created in 2013-14.
Of course, the 2020 Sierra Canyon team when Bronny James was a freshman advanced to the CIF Open title game, but it was never played. Bryce James, who contributed three points and two assists, jokingly mentioned that he is now “one up” on his older brother by winning a state title. That Sierra Canyon team was awfully talented, but there was something satisfying to the coaching staff and players about this group winning a CIF state title.
“My teammates are my brothers and I am glad my dad is always coaching me up,” Bryce James said. “They definitely should have had one so I will just say that (with Bronny and me) we’re 1-1.”
The last time NorCal won in this division came in 2015, when San Ramon Valley of Danville beat a underclass-oriented Chino Hills team in double overtime at Haas Pavilion. The last time a CIF Sac Joaquin Section team to win a title in this division came in 2013, when Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove defeated Santa Monica a season before the CIFSS open division began and it started to dominate in this division when its teams that dropped down from the open division at the regional level.
“We played our butts off all year,” Lincoln head coach Anthony Matthews said. “Our whole starting five was in foul trouble and it was 30 to 18 in free throws. I think they deserved better.”
He added: “When I started coaching I wanted to make Stockton a heavy hitter because it’s not known for basketball. They have shown they can play with anybody. To have all these people here tonight is what we play for.”
D1 Girls
Carondelet (Concord) 51,
Sage Hill (Newport Beach) 48
The Division I state championship matchup between Cal-Hi Sports No. 13 Carondelet and No. 15 Sage Hill was expected to be close based on the closeness of where the two teams were ranked, and it was, but after all was said and done it was Carondelet (30-6) that made the late defensive stops and converted four free throws in the final 1:02 of the game to pull out a 51-48 victory.
It was the second state championship for Carondelet in five appearances with the first one coming 21 years ago in a Division II 48-41 victory over Troy (Fullerton) when former Stanford and WNBA star Jayne Appel was a sophomore.
Carondelet of Concord head coach Kelly Sopak ponders a question during CIF D1 state final post-game press conference. Photo: Mark Tennis.
“First off, there was never a doubt,” deadpanned Carondelet head coach Kelly Sopak, who has more than 500 wins at Northgate of Walnut Creek, Miramonte of Orinda and Carondelet but was celebrating his first CIF state title.
In actuality, the final outcome was in doubt until the final buzzer, but after sophomore Kamdyn Klamberg scored to give Sage Hill a 48-47 lead, junior wing Layla Dixon made two free throws, and after Carondelet got a defensive stop, junior reserve Olivia Smith made two clutch free throws for the game’s final tallies.
Sage Hill got the ball back with around 13 seconds left and a chance to tie it with a three-pointer, but the smothering Carondelet defense didn’t allow Sage Hill to even get off a shot before the horn sounded and the celebration for the Cougars and their fans began.
Celeste Alvarez, a 6-foot-1 sophomore power forward, led a balanced Carondelet attack with a huge double-double 11 points and 12 rebounds, plus she blocked five shots, and she even hit a key three-pointer that gave the Cougars a 47-43 lead with less than two minutes remaining.
No other Cougars’ player was in double-figure scoring but Carondelet had eight players score to five for Sage Hill, and the bench outscored the Lightning 17-0.
“We don’t really have one player that can carry us, so our success is everyone contributes,” Alvarez remarked.
Junior Sophia Ross, who was part of a strategy by Sopak to switch off with sophomore Janel Nevares, Smith and Dixon, to keep Sage Hill junior star Amalia Holguin off balance as much as possible, made two three-pointers and finished with eight points, and three assists. Dixon had a solid game after finishing with six points, eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Phoebe Weaver and senior Ryan Rodriguez each had six points off the bench, Nevares and Smith each had five points with Smith adding six rebounds, and freshman Niylah Christopher only had four points, but she pulled down six rebounds and had a team-high four assists, and her physical play and defense was a factor against the big front line of Sage Hill with three 6-footers.
Holquin led Sage Hill (23-12) with a game-high 21 points, plus five rebounds, four steals and three assists, but she was only 1-for-6 at the free-throw line and missed two crucial free-throws in the fourth quarter. Klamberg added 13 points and five rebounds, but the rest of the starters only had 12 points and the bench came up empty.
As a team, Sage Hill was an abysmal 4-of-14 from the charity stripe compared to 8-for-11 for Carondelet.
When Holguin nailed a three-pointer from behind the NBA arc to cut the deficit to 47-46, the crowd went wild, and then when Klamberg gave Sage Hill the lead, it appeared the Lightning might make a comeback after trailing 42-34 in the early fourth quarter, but the comeback fell short.
Amalia Holguin hit for 21 points to lead Sage Hill in CIF D1 final game loss to Carondelet. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
The game was a back-and forth affair in the first quarter with five lead changes and three ties. Sage Hill had one of its three three-point leads, its biggest, before Carondelet closed out the quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 14-12 lead entering the second period.
The Cougars led 24-18 at the half but the third quarter was similar to the first with three ties and three lead changes before Carondelet closed with another 5-0 run to lead 39-34 entering the fourth quarter.
“Sage Hill is just a tremendous team and they posed a lot of problems for us with their size, and obviously their point guard (Holguin) was phenomenal tonight,” Sopak said. “It looked like she was going to be a hero for them tonight and win the game, and I’m just glad we stepped up and made the defensive stops when we had to and buckled down and played great half-court defense.”
Both teams are young. Carondelet has three seniors but only Rodriguez is a real contributor. Sage Hill also has three seniors but none scored against Carondelet. Besides Holquin, junior Alyssa Cuff (two points) is a starter and the other three starters are sophomore Klamberg and freshmen Addison Uphoff (eight points, six rebounds) and Eve Fowler (four points, nine rebounds).
“It didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said Sage Hill head coach Kerwin Walters, who directed Sage Hill to the CIF D2 state title in 2022. “But our young kids are going to grow more and more and be a force in the future.”
The future may be bright for Sage Hill, but its probably just as bright or brighter for Carondelet since right now in the present tense the Division I girls state championship resides in Concord and the trophy is going in the trophy case of Carondelet.
Boys D3
San Gabriel Academy 52,
King’s Academy (Sunnyvale) 51
In another matchup involving two teams playing for a CIF state crown for the first time, the game was moved up two hours because San Gabriel Academy is a school that practices the Friday sabbath, hence couldn’t complete the contest at nighttime on a Friday. For King’s Academy, it didn’t matter the time because time wasn’t the issue. Size and length was, and King’s Academy needed a bit more of it, as the SoCal representative used its size to control the paint and capture the program’s first ever state title in boys hoops.
San Gabriel Academy was seemingly in complete control as it led by 10 points with just over a minute remaining in the game. San Gabriel Academy then promptly gave up a 9-0 run in 45 seconds without getting the ball past half court. With the game in the balance, SGA held on behind two clutch free throws by sophomore Xavier Wang. He made them with 11.6 seconds remaining and his team leading 50-49 after he was part of the shaky ball-handling moments earlier.
Sophomore big man Mahamadou Diop of San Gabriel Academy opens his eyes wide before making a play vs King’s Academy. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
“It lost five years of my life in the last 15 seconds,” said San Gabriel Academy coach Daniel Piepoli, who felt not having a timeout after using the last one in a potential held ball situation was a critical factor in the near meltdown.
San Gabriel had to catch a 6 pm local time flight back to Los Angeles, and it was delighted, and fortunate, to return as state champs.
At the end of the first period, King’s Academy (27-5) trailed 12-10 and looked like it would battle with San Gabriel Academy (21-13), a semifinalist in the CIF Southern Section D3AA bracket that played a tough regular season schedule. That momentum quickly faded as the Knights stayed stuck on 10 points for over a half a quarter and that drought turned out to be the difference in the game, although the Knights made it interesting in the third quarter with a run of their own and again with the frantic ending. The first points of the second quarter for the CIF Central Coast Section D4 champs came on a free throw made with 4:22 remaining by junior Xavier Barnett (11 points) to make the score 19-11. Moments later, San Gabriel Academy senior guard CoCo Britt hit a 3-pointer to make it 24-11 and put his team’s run at 12-1.
Another Britt 3-pointer gave San Gabriel Academy a 29-14 lead and the Eagles stole all the momentum in the second quarter, outscoring their NorCal counterparts 19-8 to go up 31-18 at halftime. After 16 minutes, 6-foot-10 Mahamadou Diop, one of the state’s top sophomores, made his presence felt defensively and had the Knights looking for him. He had 10 points, seven rebounds, and four blocked shots. The Mali, West Africa native who has played basketball for only three and a half years with aspirations to one day play in the NBA, finished with game-highs of 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks. San Gabriel Academy had eight blocked shots (to King’s Academy 3) and out rebounded its NorCal counterparts, 43-31.
Nobody else scored in double figures for San Gabriel Academy. Britt finished with eight points while Wang and Mamadou Traore added seven.
Junior Claxton Ladine scored a team-high 13 points for King’s Academy, while sophomore Adrian Barnett had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
“I think our defensive pressure was the difference in the game,” Piepoli said.
“Their length gave us trouble; it’s one thing to see it on film, and another to go up against it,” King’s Academy coach Cameron Bradford said. “We could have put our head down, but they (the guys) keep fighting and battling, and I couldn’t be more proud to be their coach; I am so proud of our guys.”
San Gabriel Academy, which participated in the same league as CIFSS 2AA champ and D1 regional participant Fairmont Prep (Anaheim), built its lead to 36-21, then Kings’ Academy closed the third quarter with a run of its own. King’s Academy senior Caedmon Dickson nailed a 3-pointer to make it 36-30 with 57 seconds remaining in the third period. Barnett then scored on a nifty Euro-step move and toilet bowl finish as King’s Academy trailed by four at the end of the period. King’s Academy finished the third quarter on a 11-0 run and had the ball to open the fourth period, but turned the ball over on the inbounds play.
It was that type of game for King’s Academy, but it turned out to be nearly as cardiovascular for San Gabriel Academy as well. The Knights had 21 turnovers and San Gabriel Academy had 25. King’s Academy even scored a lay-up at the buzzer on the 25th and final turnover, so in the end, perhaps time was of the essence for the Knights.
The girls at Marin Catholic of Kentfield get excited just seconds after the final horn sounded in their win on Friday vs Mater Dei Catholic. Photo: Samuel Stringer.
Girls D3
Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 48,
Mater Dei Catholic (Chula Vista) 38
This game matched up two schools that both were looking to win their second CIF state titles. The coach of Mater Dei Catholic’s 2009 D4 state crown, David Monroe, was still on the bench leading the Crusaders. The coach of Marin Catholic’s 2002 D4 state title, Rick DeMartini, was on the bench for the Wildcats, only this time he was assisting 23-year-old head coach Kayden Korst.
Korst, who scored more than 2,000 points in her career at San Dominico of San Anselmo from 2016 to 2019, may be the youngest coach to win a girls state title, but it’s wasn’t possible to look up every name on the list of coaches who’ve won state titles to be absolutely sure.
Here’s the two coaches who’ve directed CIF state title teams at Marin Catholic: Kayden Korst (left) for 2025 & Rick DeMartini for 2002. Rick served as an assistant coach for this year’s team. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Mater Dei Catholic (21-14) took a 21-20 lead at halftime on a layup at the buzzer by Jarika Chan. The Crusaders then took a 26-22 lead early in the third quarter, but Marin Catholic (26-11) then went on a 13-4 run to end the quarter and then scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter for a 39-28 lead. The Wildcats didn’t come close to losing the lead in the fourth quarter.
“It’s incredible,” Korst said. “None of us thought anyone could do this today this season. We’re just so fortunate and blessed.”
Both Korst and some of the players talked about the experience of playing league rival Justin-Siena of Napa in preparing the team for its state title run. The Braves beat Marin Catholic, 78-59, on January 25, but in a rematch that decided the CIF North Coast Section D2 title, it was the Wildcats who won, 64-55. Justin-Siena (30-4) also was a team that Marin Catholic had to get past in the NorCal D3 semifinals, and that was by a 65-54 margin.
“After that first game when we lost by 20 points, we thought ‘That’s not who we are,'” said senior Marin Catholic standout and two-time Marin County Athletic League Player of the Year Izzy McFadden. “And now, the first game doesn’t matter. To beat them a second again a second time was pretty amazing.”
McFadden topped all scorers with 21 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds plus she had five steals. Cecelia Biernat and Jocelyn Gigounas both added eight points.
Mater Dei Catholic had some success going inside to 6-foot-2 sophomore Jordyn Worley. She had 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Chan also made three three-pointers and matched Worley with 15 points.
“With the type of start we had to this year, we never thought we would be here,” said Monroe, who won his 400th game last season and might have won a CIF state title in 2020 but his team never got a chance to try for it when COVID began and the state finals were cancelled. “I really want to commend (the girls) for not quitting. They came up big by hitting some big shots (in the second half). We just didn’t take advantage of the open shots that they gave us.”
Worley sure hopes to come back with the experience she had.
“That’s the best experience I’ve ever had in high school,” she said.
Boys D5
International (San Francisco) 71
Diamond Ranch (Pomona) 52
International’s Conor Maguire made headlines earlier this season when he set a CIF North Coast Section record by making 14 three-pointers in one game and scoring 63 points in a blowout win over Drew of San Francisco. Conor didn’t make a three in Friday’s state final (taking six attempts), but he still scored 32 points to lead the Jaguars to their first state title.
The entire team at International didn’t make a three in the first half against Diamond Ranch (out of 11 attempts) as the Panthers had the edge at 30-24. In the third quarter, though, the Jaguars (25-12) came out attacking the rim instead and also used their defense to go on a 16-0 run that turned the game around. Diamond Ranch (23-15) scored the final nine points of the quarter and cut the lead to 45-43 and 47-45 early in the fourth quarter before 9-0 run by International sealed it.
Will Savill-Welch (left) and Conor Maguire both had stellar outings for International of San Francisco in its D5 state title game win vs Diamond Ranch. Photo: Mark Tennis.
“We were talking at halftime about how our three-points shots weren’t falling,” Maguire said. “We had to get on runs to the basket and get to the line. We did a lot of handoff actions and the ball started falling.”
As for the lack of three-pointers of his own, Maguire later added: “While watching their film, we knew there might be wide gaps and knew we could score that way, but I don’t want to blank on threes again.”
Will Savill-Welch was another key to the International victory. The 6-foot-5 senior center grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked seven shots to go with 12 points. Jason Meisel also converted on some big layups and had 12 points.
Diamond Ranch made it to Sacramento after only going 4-6 in the Mt. Baldy League and didn’t even know it would get a spot as an at-large team into the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The Panthers made it indeed, then went to the CIFSS D5AA semifinals (qualifying them for the regionals), then avenged a loss to Kaiser in the D5 South playoffs and eventually won a regional title.
“It was a fast-paced game and very physical,” said Diamond Ranch head coach Kevin Ryan. “We lost four starters from last season and this was a brand new group that took time to jell. We were just trying to get better every day and we were still doing that today.”
The Panthers were led by junior guard Devin Turner with 16 points. Senior Michael Salazar had 14 points and 11 rebounds and junior Jadyn Pullian had 10 points and nine rebounds.
In winning, International also became the sixth different school from the city of San Francisco to win a CIF state title for boys hoops. The first one was St. Ignatius way back in 1926. Others have been Sacred Heart Cathedral, Archbishop Riordan, Mission and Stuart Hall.
Head coach Paul Cortes said coaches from the city like Charles Johnson of Stuart Hall, Randy Bessolo of University (whose school has not won a state title but has made to the state finals five times), and Joey Curtin of Riordan (whose team will try to win the Open Division state title on Saturday) are all supportive of each other.
“There’s been a lot of great basketball and we’ve represented well (at state) as of late,” Cortes said. “We are texting each other all the time and when one of us does well it makes all of us proud.”
Girls Division V
Woodland Christian 47, Rosamond 41
The only local girls team representing the Sacramento metropolitan area had to get up early for the 10 am game that kicked off the 2025 CIF state championships, but “the little engine that could” as Woodland Christian head coach Shiloh Sorbello called his Cardinals, got it done and won the Division V title.
It was the first ever state championship for Woodland Christian (31-6), it came in its first state title game appearance, and it helped erase the sting of losing the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 championship in a heartbreaking 45-42 loss to Bret Harte of Altaville two weeks ago on the same Golden 1 Center hardwood.
Teagan Hayes will go straight to softball after she led Woodland Christian to D5 state title. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Senior Teagan Hayes, whose number one sport isn’t even basketball, but softball, led all scorers with 18 points (two three-pointers), plus seven rebounds, six steals and three assists. Senior point guard Keziah Maldonado-Lemus had two three-pointers and finished with 12 points, five rebounds five steals and three assists. Sophomore and coach’s daughter Siena Sorbello only had six points but pulled down 17 rebounds. Sophomore Bailee Broward only had four points but also came up big on the boards with 12 rebounds.
“We’ve been underdogs but these girls are real dogs and get after it on the boards and defense,” Coach Sorbello remarked. “Today it was a total team effort. The sum of our parts was better than the individuals.”
Early on, it was back and forth with four lead changes and two ties in the first quarter before Woodland Christian took an 11-7 lead after one quarter that they stretched to 25-19 at the half.
Woodland Christian made three first half three-pointers with two by Maldonaldo-Lemus where one was from NBA range and the other was with her foot on the white NBA line at the Golden 1 Center. The third trey was by Hayes, and her foot was on the NBA line as well.
Both teams were jacking up long-range three-pointers and it showed in the percentages with Woodland Christian 6-for-31 and Rosamond was 4-for-21 from outside the arc.
Rosamond (29-8) was making its second state championship title game appearance. The first came in 1990 when Menlo School of Atherton (led by current Stanford head coach Kate Paye) defeated the Roadrunners in the D5 title game. The team on Friday was led by junior Ariel Cain with 14 points and nine rebounds. Junior Nadiyah Baladez added eight points, eight steals and six assists.
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
