Sweet repeat: Woodland Christian girls win CIF State D-V title, led by Sorbellos

Getting to a CIF State championship is difficult. Winning is even harder. Getting there and winning in back-to-back seasons is a rarity.

But achieving the feat as a head coach to two daughters on the team? It’s an accomplishment that is not lost on Woodland Christian High School coach Shiloh Sorbello.

“It was twice as hard and twice as challenging,” quipped Sorbello of coaching a freshman and junior daughter this season. “No, it’s been a blessing.”

Siena Sorbello had 21 points and six rebounds while little sister Sofia Sorbello added seven points with 13 assists to help the Cardinals to their second straight CIF Division V state championship Friday at Golden 1 Center, with a decisive 63-30 rout of Laguna Hills of Orange County.

Junior Bailee Broward put up a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman Annabell Baker stepped up with nine points, nine rebounds and eight steals for the Cardinals (33-3).

Woodland Christian joins Colfax, Grant and West Campus as the only Sacramento-area schools to repeat as state champions in basketball.

The Cardinals are also the only girls or boys team in Yolo County to ever reach a CIF final in this sport, and now they have more hardware to add to the trophy case.

The small-school Cardinals have made a habit of deep runs in the CIF regional brackets despite falling short in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. The Cardinals reached the NorCal semifinals in 2024 before back-to-back state championship wins.

Despite being eliminated from the section semifinals by Bret Harte of Angels Camp, the Cardinals drew a 6-seed for the regional bracket and went through No. 11 Oakland, No. 3 Palma of Salinas, No. 2 John Adams Academy of El Dorado Hills and top-seeded Modoc of Alturas in the northeastern corner of the state to make a return trip to Golden 1 Center.

“Last year we were the one-seed,” Shiloh Sorbello said. “This year, we had to be road warriors.”

Siena Sorbello, Broward and senior Ellie Sumner were all key rotation cogs who returned from last year’s title run. Sumner will go down as the program’s winningest player, according to her coach, with 113 wins over the past four seasons.

“Watching all of us grow up as players together, it’s just really something special that not a lot of people have,” said Sumner. “It’s something that I know next year they’re going to go far again, and they’re going to do great. I’m really proud of everyone.”

The Cardinals held the Hawks scoreless until the 1:44 mark of the first quarter as Keira McDermott buried a corner triple. But Broward collected her own miss and delivered a buzzer-beating putback at the end of the first quarter to give Woodland Christian a 9-5 lead after one.

From there, the Cardinals went on a 23-2 run sparked by 3-pointers from Baker and Sofia Sorbello. Woodland Christian took a 33-11 lead into the halftime break.

All five Cardinal starters got to finish the season on the floor as the final horn sounded.

“I wanted to honor the girls that started the game,” Shiloh Sorbello said. “Everybody got playing time… I wanted to finish strong and I wanted them to be able to celebrate this accomplishment on the floor.”

Laguna Hills reached the finals by avenging a playoff loss to Schurr of Montebello a year ago with a 43-24 win in the Southern California finals to make the program’s third state title appearance.

Laguna Hills head coach Jim Martin, who’s been on the Hawks bench for the past 28 years, confessed that despite Laguna Hills having the higher seed, his team felt like the underdogs. Woodland Christian, making a much shorter drive to Golden 1 Center, had the overwhelming crowd advantage.

Woodland Christian finished its season by winning 28 of its final 29 games.

And the best part for the Cardinals? The team’s core scorers are all expected to return next season. Siena Sorbello and Broward will be seniors next year while Sofia Sorbello and Baker will be sophomores.

“Our focus next year is going to be winning the section,” Shiloh Sorbello said.

This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 1:07 PM.