PHOTOS: Sage Hill captures CIF Division I State So Cal title with victory over Windward

Sage Hill players, coaches and school officials celebrate the CIF So Cal title Tuesday night. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Sage Hill’s girls basketball team is headed to Sacramento for the CIF Division I state championship game Friday evening after capturing a hard-fought 52-41 victory over Windward in the Southern California final Tuesday night at Sage Hill in Newport Beach.

The Lightning will face Carondelet, which defeated St. Mary’s 56-51 in the Northern California final Tuesday night. The state final will be Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

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“We do have more work to do, it’s a great celebration,” said Sage Hill Coach Kerwin Walters after being congratulated by Lighting fans. “It’s a great accomplishment, but we got one more. Windward put up an amazing fight, it was a great game. I think it was very entertaining. We didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish at the rim but our girls persevered and Amalia (Holguin) hit a dagger of a three and once these girls saw that, you knew it was done.

“They knew they were going to go get this, I’m just thankful we came through with it.”

It will be the second appearance in a state final for Sage Hill’s girls basketball program. Sage Hill won the Division II crown in 2022.

No. 2-seeded Sage Hill was able to finish strong Tuesday night, behind the play of Holguin, a junior guard, who wound up with 24 points, including a big 3-pointer down the stretch, one of four she made on the night, much to the delight of the home fans. She scored 17 of her points in the second half.

“We’ve been working for this all season,” said Holguin, who also had nine rebounds. “It’s no surprise to me that we did that. Windward is a great team ….. but I’m just super proud of how we kept our composure. It’s any team’s dream to go to Sacramento, I’m so glad our team gets to experience it through the ups and downs of this season.

“I was a fan in Sacramento when they won their 2022 championship so I’ve been dreaming this and visualizing this since the eighth grade, so I’m super proud of myself and our team.”

It was Sage Hill’s 11th straight victory at home without a loss.

The Lightning (23-11) broke open what was a close game with an 11-0 run in the final minutes of the contest to clinch a trip to Sacramento. Addison Uphoff added 12 points, Eve Fowler had nine points and 18 rebounds and Kamdyn Klamberg six points and 11 rebounds for Sage Hill.

Oliva Lagao led No. 4-seeded Windward (21-11) with 16 points.

It looked like Sage Hill would secure a comfortable victory after moving out to an 18-7 lead after one quarter.

But Windward kept the game close cutting the lead to 22-18 on a pair of 3-pointers by Lagao late in the second quarter.

Sage Hill led 24-21 at halftime and 39-35 after three quarters.

Windward tied the game 41-41 on a basket by Lagao with more than two minutes left. But Holguin scored with 1:30 remaining to give the Lighting a two point lead. Then she all but sealed the win with a 3-pointer with about 50 seconds left to put Sage Hill ahead by eight.

Sage Hill’s defense shutout Windward the rest of the way en route to the title, defeating a Wildcat team that advanced with a 79-55 victory over top-seeded Fairmont Prep Saturday in the semifinals.

“The girls just stood composed,” Walters said. “Windward put a great run on, both teams I think deserve to win, we were just the ones who were fortunate to come out on top.”

Sage Hill’s defense has been impressive in the state run. The Lightning allowed 34 points in each of two wins and 39 points in Saturday’s semifinal victory over Brentwood School.

It was the second victory for Sage Hill over Windward this season. The Lightning will be the only Orange County girls or boys team competing in the state finals in Sacramento.

(Daryl Bogard provided additional courtesy stats for this story).

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com