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    CIF SoCal Regional girls basketball preview: Sage Hill vs. Windward, Division I final
    • March 11, 2025

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    A preview of Tuesday’s CIF Southern California Regional Division I girls basketball championship game:

    DIVISION I FINAL

    Windward (21-10) at Sage Hill (22-11), 7 p.m.

    Outlook: The No. 2 seeded Lightning carry a 2-0 record against No. 4 Windward this season as they attempt to reach the CIF State championship for the second time in four seasons. Sage Hill beat Windward 69-58 in the first round of the Harvard-Westlake tournament on Nov. 20, and 70-55 in the finals of the Redondo tournament 10 days later. “It is really difficult to beat a team three times in a season … but really excited about the challenge,” Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters said. “We have to prepare very well as Windward has been playing extremely well. They have several players who can cause damage and we will have to be at the top of our game in order to pull this off.”

    Windward is coming off a 79-55 win against Fairmont Prep in the semifinals. NYU-bound Olivia Lagao scored 20 points, including six of Windward’s 12 3-pointers. In the regional, Central Florida-bound Samari Bankhead is averaging 21 points while sophomore Charis Rainey is averaging 18. Walters lists all three players as key matchups and adds freshman Amel Cook (13 ppg in regional). The freshman had been offered by USC and UCLA among others.

    Sage Hill counters with a defense that held Brentwood — known for its 3-point shooting — to a season-low scoring output in a 59-39 victory in the semifinals. Offensively, sophomore Kamdyn Klamberg is averaging 18 points in the regional for the Lightning while Amalia Holguin is averaging 14.7 points. Sage Hill’s surge in regional has been boosted by the return of freshman guard Addison Uphoff from injury.

    The winner Tuesday faces either St. Mary’s or Carondelet in the CIF State final Friday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento at 6 p.m. In 2022, Sage Hill won a dramatic Division II CIF SoCal Regional title at Corona Santiago and went on capture the state championship. That same season, Windward edged an Orangewood Academy team led by Hannah Stines (now at Washington) 61-58 in the Division I regional final. Windward lost in the state final. The Wildcats are 6-1 all-time in regional championship games while Sage Hill is 1-0.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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