Faith Christian, Woodland Christian advance to CIF State girls basketball finals
The conversation around the Sacramento region’s high school girls basketball scene has traditionally started with the large-enrollment schools.
That’s McClatchy, Oak Ridge, Folsom, Antelope, Christian Brothers and others that have usually dominated the conversation, especially during championship season.
But as the 2025-26 season nears its end, it’s impossible to ignore the recent emergence of two schools with significantly smaller enrollments. The 44th CIF State championships culminate this Friday and Saturday at Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings. And the only two girls teams left standing in the greater Sacramento region are Faith Christian of Yuba City and Woodland Christian of Yolo County.
Led by record-setting senior Lauren Harris, the Lions are playing for the biggest prize in their respective division for the second straight year. Faith Christian moved up to the CIF Northern California Division IV bracket for the state tournament after winning it all in Division VI a year ago with a regional championship, as the D-VI bracket culminates with that round.
Now, top-seeded Faith Christian has a chance to take it one step further with a state title. The Lions took down third-seeded Lathrop of the 209 area code in the NorCal final on Tuesday, 61-46, and they’ll go for the big hardware 10 a.m. Saturday against Southern California champion Palisades of the LA City Section.
“It would be quite the ending to the story to finish this thing off,” Faith Christian head coach Geoff Harris said. “I don’t want to waste too much time (thinking) on it. I’m thankful, and I have a posture of gratitude, but we’ve gotta keep this thing rolling.”
Lauren Harris, the coach’s daughter and Long Beach State commit, added to her illustrious career Tuesday with 27 points and three 3-pointers. She is already the nation’s most prolific 3-point shooter of all-time with more than 700 triples and a newly established single-season record of 239 3s and counting.
Complementing Harris is Concordia University of Irvine commit Presley Berry, who has established a fine career in her own right, eclipsing the 2,000-point mark for her career earlier this season. A senior forward, Berry went for 13 points in Tuesday’s win. Junior Mia Bryan is the third head of the Faith Christian monster who averages 11.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with a non-stop motor. She had 21 on Tuesday and is on the brink of 1,000 career points.
At 33-1, the Lions have survived more close games in the NorCal tournament than they have all season long. Before a 4-point win over Miramonte of Orinda in the quarterfinals and another against Liberty Ranch of Galt in the semifinals, Faith’s only other single-digit win came against Placer of Auburn on Dec. 18.
“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” said Harris, the coach. “It’s concerning when we have close games or when the other team goes on big runs, but it’s the playoffs, so it’s foolish to expect things like that not to happen. The other side of that sword is the girls do a great job in a variety of ways to find the counter and find a way to make it happen.”
Woodland Christian looks to repeat at D-V
Woodland Christian has made a habit over the past few seasons of making deep runs in the NorCal brackets. The Cardinals reached the regional semifinals as a 9-seed in 2024 before winning it all last season at the Division V level.
Like Harris at Faith Christian, Shiloh Sorbello is another coach with the fortune of coaching his daughters at Woodland Christian. Junior Siena and freshman Sofia are the team’s leading scorers but are treated by their father as equals amongst the rest of the team.
“I’m harder on them than anyone else, but I know I can be because at the end of the day, there’s no question in their minds that I love them,” Shiloh Sorbello said. “It gives me a little bit of a license to ride them a bit. And it’s good for the rest of the team to see that I’m not babying my girls. I err on the side of being harder on them, showing tough love and letting them see the softer side at home.”
The Woodland Christian family ties don’t stop there. Sorbello’s wife, Sam, is on the coaching staff and there are younger daughters in fourth and seventh grade — future varsity Cardinals — who help keep the scorebook and work the video camera during game days.
While the Sorbello pipeline promises to keep the program strong in the future, the present team consists of four players who average double-digit scoring. Siena and Sofia Sorbello (15.4 and 12.1 points per game, respectively), junior Bailee Broward (12.0) and freshman Annabell Baker (11.1). Broward also goes for 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.9 steals.
“(Siena and Bailee) are really steadying,” Shiloh Sorbello said of his leaders. “They play the back of our defense, so we encourage them to be the vocal air traffic control for the back of our zone. If our youngsters get beat, it’s good for them to know that they have Sienna and Bailee back there as a security blanket.”
On Tuesday, in the D-V NorCal final, the Cardinals upset top-seeded Modoc of Alturas 49-36. After nearly a five-hour drive to the far northeastern part of California, Woodland Christian got 34 combined points from the Sorbello sisters to extend its season at 32-3.
Sofia Sorbello led the team with 19 while big sister Siena had 15. The pair combined for 14 fourth-quarter points.
The Cardinals will look to repeat as state champions as they take the court 10 a.m. Friday against SoCal D-V champion Laguna Hills of Montebello.
“Last year, we were the 2-seed, so we got to host all the way to Golden 1, and then, boom. It was pretty ideal,” Shiloh Sorbello said. “This experience has given us a little more arduous route this year. We’ve played at the 3-seed, the 2-seed and now the 1-seed, so it’s been challenging … But once the ball goes up, it’s a matter of executing the game plan.”
44th CIF State championships
All games played at Golden 1 Center, with start times of 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, each day.
FRIDAY
Division V Girls: Laguna Hills (21-11) vs. Woodland Christian (32-3)
Division V Boys: Sylmar (24-12) vs. San Marin (21-13)
Division III Girls: El Dorado-Placentia (23-14) vs. Valley Christian-San Jose (16-15)
Division III Boys: Birmingham (22-8) vs. Cornerstone Christian (28-8)
Division I Girls: Centennial-Corona (23-5) vs. Clovis (26-10)
Division I Boys: Damien-La Verne (31-7) vs. Folsom (29-6)
SATURDAY
Division IV Girls: Palisades (16-13) vs. Faith Christian-Yuba City (33-1)
Division IV Boys: San Juan Hills (21-14) vs. Sacred Heart Prep (20-11)
Division II Girls: St. Joseph-Santa Maria (17-15) vs. Sierra Pacific (24-11)
Division II Boys: Bakersfield Christian (24-11) vs. Memorial-Fresno (27-7)
Open Division Girls: Ontario Christian (33-2) vs. Mitty (28-2)
Open Division Boys: Sierra Canyon (29-1) vs. Salesian-Richmond (29-3)
This story was originally published March 10, 2026 at 10:45 PM.