El Dorado head coach Matthew Raya and the team presents the CIF State Regional Champion plaque to the fans after Tuesday’s victory. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
For the first time in school history, El Dorado’s girls basketball team is going to a CIF state final.
On Tuesday night, the Golden Hawks girls basketball team stormed back from a 14-point second-half deficit and defeated Leuzinger 61-56 to capture the CIF Division III So Cal Regional final before a boisterous crowd at El Dorado.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The No. 2-seeded Golden Hawks (23-14) won their 11th consecutive game and advanced to Friday’s state final at 2 p.m. at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento to face Valley Christian of San Jose which defeated Menlo-Atherton on Tuesday.
Delaney Shiring (26 points) and Kennedy Wood (24 points) team up to lead El Dorado’s second-half comeback.
“It’s so amazing to be going to the state final and for us to be a part of the school’s history,” said Shiring, who scored 16 of her 26 points in the second half and drilled four 3-pointers in the game. “This is a special team and we’ve put in a lot of work and it’s great to see it pay off by us going to the state finals.”
Wood had a huge second half to spark the Golden Hawks, scoring 18 of her 24 points in the final two quarters.
“The key in the second-half was that we got stops,” said Wood, an Orangewood Academy transfer, who made five 3-pointers in the game. “We started hitting shots and we started rolling. We made history tonight and its amazing we’re going to the state finals.”
Trailing 30-18 at halftime, it looked bleak for El Dorado as Leuzinger (23-15) scored on its first five possessions of the second half. Darion Autrey’s basket gave the Olympians a 39-25 lead with 5:11 remaining in the third quarter. But then the Golden Hawks started clicking on all cylinders.
Riley Morikawa, Wood, and Shiring led a 13-3 El Dorado run in the final minutes of the third quarter. Shiring’s free throw in the final 20 seconds of the quarter cut the lead to 42-38 after three periods.
Leuzinger started the fourth quarter strong and upped its lead to 48-40 on a basket by Brianna Ike at the 6:23 mark of the final quarter. But once again, the Golden Hawks kicked it into high gear and scored on nine of their final 11 possessions and outscored the Olympians 21-8 down the stretch to finish the game.
Three times in the second half, El Dorado scored on baskets by Shiring off inbounds plays. Shiring also had a strong game on the boards and blocked blocked several shots.
Midway through the fourth quarter, El Dorado nailed four consecutive 3-pointers, one by Morikawa, two by Wood and one by Shiring to send the large hometown crowd into a frenzy.
Shiring’s 3-pointer tied the game at 49-49 and Wood’s 3-pointer gave the Golden Hawks a 52-49 lead with 3:18 to play. In the final 1:09, Wood and Shiring converted 7 of 8 free throws to secure the win.
“We locked up on defense and kept chipping away at the lead,” said Morikawa, who scored 10 points, including making two of the Golden Hawks 11 3-pointers in the game. “It’s crazy but it’s what we’ve been working towards. All season”
El Dorado Coach Matt Raya was ecstatic with the victory.
“We couldn’t stop them in the paint in the first half so at halftime we decided to go to a 1-2-2 zone,” said Raya. “We figured if they’re going to beat us, let them beat us from the outside. The strategy worked as we got turnovers and kept them out of the lane and we got some key rebounds. On the inbounds plays, I thought they were sitting back a little and we took advantage of that. Our crowd was incredible and the girls feed off them”
The Golden Hawks also got strong defensive performances from Alaina Zamora, Karis Wu and Eryn Dunham.
Leuzinger went on a 13-3 run in the first quarter but Shiring’s two free throws cut the lead to 16-10 after the first period. The Olympians went on an 8-2 run over the final 3:22 of the second quarter to take a 30-18 lead at the break.
“All season long we’ve had our problems in the third quarter,” said Leuzinger Coach Bo Corona. “We built a 14-point lead but we didn’t learn our lesson and the game got away from us.”
Tatyana Aubry led the Olympians with 16 points.
Notes:
—Leuzinger, which finished second in the Ocean League this season, defeated Montgomery, La Canada, and Canyon to reach the finals while El Dorado defeated Torrey Pines, Granada Hills Charter, and King/Drew in its first three rounds of the regional. The Olympians were attempting to reach its first state final in school history.
—El Dorado won its first girls basketball CIF title this season since 1976 and captured the CIF Division 4 championship for the first time in 50 years in February 2026. “We had two win our last two games of the regular season just to get into the playoffs,” said Raya. “It feels like we’ve been playing playoff games since mid January.”
El Dorado High School opened in 1966.
—After dropping five straight games in January, the Golden Hawks rallied and have won 11 consecutive games to reach the state finals.
—Golden Hawks assistant coach Danielle Rumary, a member of the last El Dorado team that reached the regional finals (but lost in 2015) said, “I’m so proud of these girls. I feel like we started this run in 2015 and these girls are finishing it. They kept chipping away and never gave up. It was great team effort.”
—Leuzinger only dressed nine players. The Olympians made it to the CIF So Cal regional semifinals in 2023 but lost. This season they lost in the semifinals to St. Margaret’s in the CIF Division 3 playoffs.
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