Two of the Cal-Hi Sports state players of the year for girls basketball this season are Jerzy Robinson of Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (juniors) and Lauren Harris of Yuba City Faith Christian (D5/D6). Photos: EVision_AZ / X.com & ncsasports.org.
Ontario Christian lands two state player of the year honors with Kaleena Smith (sophomores) and Tati Griffin (freshmen) leading the way. Jerzy Robinson also becomes the third State Junior of the Year from Sierra Canyon in the last seven years. For the CIF divisional winners, there’s a mother-daughter storyline and someone who did so much we had to change the D5 selection for the first time to D5/D6 combined.
For official writeup on the 2025 Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year, CLICK HERE.
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Congratulations to these girls players for being selected as a Cal-Hi Sports State Player of the Year. Associate editor Harold Abend contributed to the writeups and participated in each of the player of the year voting. Stay tuned for the upcoming release of the 46th annual Cal-Hi Sports All-State Teams. Here is a complete list of all of our girls basketball individual players of the year for the 2025 season:
SENIORS & OPEN DIVISION/DIVISION 1
Aliyahna “Puff” Morris (Etiwanda) Sr.
As is usually the case, the senior of the year and the Open/D1 player of the year is the same as Ms. Basketball. Puff also will be added to the all-time list of players of the year for Southern California (the NorCal honoree will be added when the first 30 players on the annual all-state teams are announced).
Besides the three straight CIF Open Division state championships, the Eagles’ four-year record was an amazing 123-12 with Morris at the point, and this came while playing a national level schedule that included traversing the country to play top competition along with the CIF Southern Section Open Division, by many accounts and rightfully so the toughest playoffs in the nation.
STATE JUNIOR OF THE YEAR:
Jerzy Robinson (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth)
A USA Basketball star, it’s finally time to get a State Player of the Year writeup done for Jerzy. She obviously couldn’t get one for California as a freshman since she was playing for Desert Vista High in Arizona where she was the Arizona State Player of the Year (overall and not just for the freshmen). Last year, after her first full season with the Trailblazers, Robinson was edged out for the top sophomore spot by San Jose Archbishop Mitty’s McKenna Woliczko and both were considered finalists for Ms. Basketball.
It has to be said that while Woliczko suffered a season-ending knee injury back in January, there’s a good chance that Robinson would have been the State Junior of the Year regardless. She had that kind of season. In leading Sierra Canyon to a final No. 3 overall state ranking and a 28-3 record with an overtime loss to No. 2 Ontario Christian in the CIF Southern Regional Open Division semifinals, Jerzy pumped in 27.2 ppg with 10.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. She also shot 44 percent overall from the field and had a career-high 50 points in a win vs Louisville of Woodland Hills.
Considered the No. 1 prospect by some in the nation for the Class of 2026, Robinson does not yet have a college commitment. She does have an NIL deal with Nike, however, signed in January of 2024 and is represented by the Klutch Group, which also has represented others close to Sierra Canyon, such as Bronny and Bryce James.
What she’s done for USA junior national teams is what really sets apart Jerzy. In 2023, she was MVP at the 2023 FIBA Under 16 America’s Cup and in 2024 she was MVP at the FIBA Women’s Basketball Under 17 World Cup. In the title game of that event, Robinson had 25 points and seven rebounds.
With Robinson landing the top junior honor, that also makes it three times in the last seven years that it has gone to a Sierra Canyon player. Jerzy follows Juju Watkins in 2022 and Vanessa DeJesus in 2019.
Recent State Juniors of the Year: 2024 Aliyahna “Puff” Morris (Etiwanda); 2023 Kennedy Smith (Etiwanda); 2022 Juju Watkins (Chatsworth Sierra Canyon); 2021 Isuneh “Ice” Brady (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); 2020 Kiki Iriafen (Studio City Harvard-Westlake); 2019 Vanessa DeJesus (Chatsworth Sierra Canyon); 2018 Charisma Osborne (Los Angeles Windward); 2017 Aquira DeCosta (Stockton St. Mary’s); 2016 Destiny Littleton (La Jolla Bishop’s); 2015 Sabrina Ionescu (Orinda Miramonte). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
Super sophomore Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian has already collected an impressive list of honors. Photo: @ochsathletics / X.com.
STATE SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR
Kaleena Smith (Ontario Christian) 5-6 G
It was one of the those no-brainers to have Kaleena as the State Sophomore of the Year and we know there are going to be supporters of her that believe she should be Ms. Basketball and not Aliyahna “Puff” Morris. For our purposes, however, winning CIF Open Division state titles takes precedence over CIF Southern Section titles and Morris made history for doing that three straight times.
The strength of Smith’s argument is that she averaged 23.2 points, 8.1 assists and 4.5 steals per game in leading the Knights to the CIFSS Open Division title. Her team also was No. 1 in the nation for many weeks until it lost to Etiwanda in the CIF SoCal Open final. Smith also is a prolific three-point shooter. She set a state record as a freshman for most three-pointers in a season with 179 and this last season she added 92 more.
Smith was selected as the Gatorade State Player of the Year that was announced before the CIF state finals were played and also was a finalist for the Naismith Award. She was just the second sophomore in 40 years of the Gatorade award to win the top state honor. Our statewide honors in girls hoops go back 10 years more than that.
This is the third time in the last four years that a player from the Inland Empire has gained this selection, following Etiwanda’s Morris and Etiwanda’s Kennedy Smith in 2022. The last Inland Empire winner before that, though, was Cheryl Miller of Riverside Poly for 1980.
Recent State Sophomores of the Year: 2024 McKenna Woliczko (San Jose Archbishop Mitty); 2023 Aliyanah “Puff” Morris (Etiwanda); 2022 Kennedy Smith (Etiwanda); 2021 Juju Watkins (Los Angeles Windward); 2020 Isuneh “Ice” Brady (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); 2019 Brooke Demetre (Santa Ana Mater Dei); 2018 Rowan Hein (Fresno Clovis North); 2017 Haley Jones (San Jose Archbishop Mitty); 2016 Aquira DeCosta (Stockton St. Mary’s); 2015 Destiny Littleton (La Jolla Bishop’s). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
STATE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
Tati Griffin (Ontario Christian) 5-11 F
While fellow Class of 2028 teammate Sydney “Bean” Douglas is still going to get a lot of support among girls basketball analysts that she is the top prospect nationally, it’s clear that Griffin had the more impressive 2024-25 season and should be the State Freshman of the Year.
Douglas stands 6-foot-6 and can be dominant on the inside. Tati isn’t close to being that tall, but she was second on the squad in scoring behind Kaleena Smith with 17.8 points per game (Douglas averaged 14.0). Griffin also was second on the team in assists (3.9 per game) and wasn’t far behind Douglas for rebounding at 8.2.
There also was a signature performance that Tati had that not only was one of the best of the season for a freshman in the state but one of the best period. That was when she had 29 points and 11 rebounds when Ontario Christian defeated Etiwanda, 65-63, in the CIFSS Open championship. Griffin also had two triple-doubles during the season: 24 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocks vs Claremont and 16 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocks vs Rancho Cucamonga.
Smith captured this same honor after her freshman season last year. Etiwanda had the two winners for 2021 and 2022 with Kennedy Smith and Aliyahna “Puff” Morris, respectively.
Recent State Freshmen of the Year: 2024 Kaleena Smith (Ontario Christian); 2023 McKenna Woliczko (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose); 2022 Aliyahna “Puff” Morris (Etiwanda); 2021 Kennedy Smith (Etiwanda); 2020 Breya Cunningham (La Jolla Country Day); 2019 Isuneh “Ice” Brady (San Diego Cathedral Catholic); 2018 Kiki Iriafen (Studio City Harvard-Westlake); 2017 Breanne Ha (Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos); 2016 Charisma Osborne (Los Angeles Windward); 2015 Aquira De Costa (Stockton St. Mary’s). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
Emmi Almeida was the leading scorer for Caruthers in her second CIF state final with 21 points. Photo: Mark Tennis.
DIVISION II
Emmi Almeida (Caruthers) 5-7 Jr. PG
One year after Emmi got to enjoy hearing about her mom, Anna, selected as the State Coach of the Year, this time the mom can enjoy hearing about her daughter getting the top D2 player of the year distinction.
Almeida had two impressive outings to end the season. First, she went for 24 points with six rebounds and five assists to lead the Blue Raiders past Salesian of Richmond, 77-63, in the CIF Northern Regional D2 title game. Then in a win against Rancho Bernardo of San Diego that determined the CIF D2 state title, Emmi shined with 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
As with a lot of Caruthers accomplishments for the 2025 season, it is bittersweet and it is for Emmi’s player of the year nod, too. She’s just the second from the school to be a divisional state player of the year following Morgan Triguiero for D3 two years ago. Morgan is the daughter of former Caruthers assistant coach Larry Trigueiro, who passed away in March not long after the Blue Raiders lost to Clovis in a CIF Central Section D1 quarterfinal playoff game.
The CIF Central Section also had the player of the year in this division two years ago with Talia Maxwell from Central of Fresno. Last year’s winner, A.J. Gambol of Chico Pleasant Valley, was a junior, but her team this season was moved up by the CIF to the NorCal D1 playoffs, which also made it impossible to choose her for D2 once again this season. Emmi still has her senior year coming up at Caruthers, but she and her team could be D1 next season just like Pleasant Valley for this season.
Recent State D2 Players of the Year: 2024 A.J. Gambol (Chico Pleasant Valley); 2023 Talia Maxwell (Fresno Central); 2022 Angie Robles (La Jolla Bishop’s); 2021 Kayanna Spriggs (Chula Vista Mater Dei Catholic); 2020 Stephanie Okowi (Oakland Tech); 2019 Jadyn Matthews (Redding Enterprise); 2018 Serena Tuitele (Chico Pleasant Valley); 2017 Julia Blackshell-Fair (Fairfield Vanden); 2016 Kayla Washington (San Bernardino Cajon); 2015 Sydney Raggio (San Francisco St. Ignatius). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
DIVISION III
Izzy McFadden (Marin Catholic, Kentfield) 5-8 Sr. SG
Marin Catholic’s toughest competition en route to winning the CIF D3 state title came from local rival Justin-Siena of Napa, which went 1-2 in matchups vs the Wildcats, with the third game deciding the NorCal regional crown. Justin-Siena’s Jordan Washington also had some big outings in those games and was another player seriously considered for the top D3 state honor.
In the end, however, McFadden was the one who had the big game in a state final and she also is the one who is the D3 player of the year. Izzy becomes just the second-ever state divisional player of the year from Marin Catholic, joining 2002 D4 honoree and former Stanford standout Brooke Smith. Marin County also now has had three divisional state players of the year in the last three seasons. In 2022, both the D4 winner, Hannah Golan of Branson (Ross), and the D5 winner, Summer Jenkins (San Domenico), were from Marin County.
In Marin Catholic’s 48-38 victory against Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista for the D3 state title, McFadden had a great all-around game with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Her very first game of the season, which was 30 points in a win vs St. Mary’s of Berkeley, also was pretty good.
Izzy came into the season as the Marin County Athletic League player of the year and repeated that honor as a senior even though Redwood of Larkspur was the league champion. Washington was the top player in the Vine Valley League. McFadden averaged 18 ppg and went past 1,000 career points during the season.
This also is the second straight year for a CIF North Coast Section player to grab this honor after Gabriella Kelley from University of San Francisco last season.
Recent State D3 Players of the Year: 2024 Gabriella Kelley (San Francisco University); 2023 Morgan Triguiero (Caruthers); 2022 Erin Sellers (Oakland Tech); 2021 D’Arrah Allen (Lawndale Leuzinger); 2020 Natalia Ackerman (Aptos); 2019 Ila Lane (Portola Valley Woodside Priory); 2018 Nia Johnson (Sacramento West Campus); 2017 Haley Van Dyke (Moraga Campolindo); 2016 Sabrina Ionescu (Orinda Miramonte); 2015 Sabrina Ionescu (Orinda Miramonte). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
State D4 Player of the Year Haley Smith from Liberty Ranch of Galt shows concentration while shooting a free throw. Photo: X.com.
DIVISION IV
Haley Smith (Liberty Ranch, Galt) 5-10 Jr. SG
CIF state champion Whitney of Cerritos and some of the other teams in the D4 bracket were balanced in scoring so there was some digging that was done for player of the year. The best of the bunch after everything was considered was Smith.
She’s been a three-year varsity standout at Liberty Ranch since her freshman season and has had scoring averages of 19.7, 19.8 and 17.3 ppg. Haley also has averaged 8.4 rebounds, 9.8 rebounds and 9.8 rebounds for her three seasons and has been at 3.3 assists, 2.4 assists and 2.4 assists.
Smith led Liberty Ranch to its first-ever section title with a 55-50 win against Riverbank in the Sac-Joaquin Section D4 final. She had 26 points and eight rebounds. The Hawks were then the top seed in the D4 North bracket for the regional playoffs, but were upset in their second game by Lowell of San Francisco. Haley had a season-high 15 rebounds and scored 25 points in that game. She had a season high of 10 steals in her first game of the season vs Ben Holt Academy of Stockton.
A multi-sport athlete who also has starred in volleyball and has competed in swimming, Smith was recently named to the Sacramento Bee’s All-Metro team for the third season. She was one of just five players that the Bee chose to be on its first five.
Smith, who has an offer from Fresno State, is the first D4 state player of the year from the SJS since Kiara Jefferson from West Campus of Sacramento in 2017. Before that, one has to go back 2010 for Brandi Hinton of Modesto Christian to find one from that section.
Recent State D4 Players of the Year: 2024 Laila Florvilus (Eureka St. Bernard’s); 2023 Yalee Schwartz (Los Angeles Shalhevet); 2022 Hannah Golan (Ross Branson); 2021 Dami Sule (Bakersfield Christian); 2020 Celeste Lewis (Hanford Sierra Pacific); 2019 Stephanie Okowi (Oakland Tech); 2018 Destiny McAllister (Los Angeles Brentwood); 2017 Kiara Jefferson (Sacramento West Campus); 2016 Minyon Moore (Richmond Salesian); 2015 Kennedy Burke (Chatsworth Sierra Canyon). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
DIVISION V/DIVISION VI
Lauren Harris (Faith Christian, Yuba City) 5-11 Jr. SG
You’ve got to be a rather historically great player to cause us to change a designation after many years but that is what is happening with Lauren.
Players from the CIF NorCal D6 playoffs have always been eligible to be all-state for D5 since there is no SoCal version of D6 and those players have to have someplace to be considered and not completely forgotten. It has been rare, however, for a player (boys or girls) from the NorCal D6 playoffs to be all-state with all of the D5 players.
Harris did it last year as a sophomore and now as a junior she’s not only going to be on that squad again but we are going to consider her as the D5/D6 State Player of the Year.
Notice the difference that before there was a player from the NorCal D6 playoffs who has been named D5/D6 player of the year that it was just listed as D5. That’s because it had never happened before. Now that it has, we’ve gone back to the archives and changed it to D5/D6 in previous lists to account for a D6 player now listed.
Harris led Faith Christian to the NorCal D6 title by making eight 3-pointers and scoring 32 points in a 58-53 victory in the final vs Cornerstone Christian of Antioch. She had 44 points in the semifinals in a win vs Weed.
In the regional final, Lauren also made the 500th 3-pointer of her career and put her final season total at 191, which broke the Cal-Hi Sports state record of 179 set last year by Ontario Christian’s Kaleena Smith.
For the season, Harris averaged 29.9 points, 14.2 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. She had season highs of 49 points, 13 three-pointers, 21 rebounds and 12 assists. In a win vs Lindhurst of Olivehurst, Lauren almost had a quadruple-double with 31 points, 15 rebounds, 13 steals and nine assists.
Recent State D5/D6 Players of the Year: 2024 Daijha Teague (Oakland); 2023 Christelle Williams (Roseville Valley Christian); 2022 Summer Jenkins (San Anselmo San Domenico); 2021 Jazmine Soto (Strathmore); 2020 Jazmine Soto (Strathmore); 2019 Serena Ybarra (Coalinga); 2018 Vanessa Smart (Oxnard Hueneme); 2017 Kayla Tahaafe (E. Palo Alto Eastside College Prep); 2016 Kayla Tahaafe (E. Palo Alto Eastside College Prep); 2015 Destiny Littleton (La Jolla Bishop’s). For full list of every year, CLICK HERE.
Mark Tennis is the editor and publisher of Cal-Hi Sports. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
