This post was originally published on this site
Sage Hill coach Kerwin Walters talks to his team during a timeout Tuesday. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
It’s been quite a post-season run so far for Sage Hill’s girls basketball team, which celebrated a CIF State Division I Southern California championship Tuesday night with a 52-41 victory over Windward at home.
Next, the Lightning are looking to capture the CIF State Division I title when they take on Northern California champion Carondelet Friday at 6 p.m. in the state final at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
“I think our girls are very eager to play, I think they’re locked in trying to understand the opponent Carondelet, which is a very good team,” said Sage Hill Coach Kerwin Walters in an interview Thursday night. “They’re not resting on the victory that we had Tuesday knowing there is another tough opponent on the other side and we can rest when it’s all over tomorrow, but for right now, we’re just focusing on the task.”
To see additional photos, click on the first picture:
“,”load_all”:false,”error_template”:”
{{ERROR}}
“,”inner_caption”:true,”caption_position”:”over”,”thumbs_position”:”bottom”,”arrow_position”:”inside”,”toolbar”:false,”infobar”:true,”show_smallbtn”:true,”idle_time”:false,”click_content”:false,”click_slide”:false,”click_outside”:false,”animation_duration”:false,”transition_duration”:false,”small_btn_template”:”“}” data-parsed-attrs=”{“id”:”187668″,”cache”:true}”>
Carondelet (29-6) was the No. 3 seed from the North bracket and reached the state final by defeating Saint Francis 62-57 and Bishop O’Dowd 54-37 and Cardinal Newman 64-45.
“Carondelet is good, they play hard defense, they’re athletic, they have a really good coach and they’ve been here before,” Walters said. “We’re a team that is really young that has not been here but has played some very tough teams and we’re trying to come into this game with confidence.”
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 under Walters, who began coaching the girls program in the 2011-12 season.
Walters hopes the Lightning (23-11) can play the same kind of defense it has for the last several games. The No. 2-seeded Lightning allowed 34 points in each of two wins and 39 points in Saturday’s semifinal victory over Brentwood School.
It was quite a night for the program Tuesday night in the So Cal final. Cheered on by its loyal fans, Sage Hill went on an 11-0 run to end the game led by junior guard Amalia Holguin who had 24 points, 17 in the second half.
“I think we’ve been playing some pretty good defense,” Walters said. “Windward was a very tough opponent. We believe it’s always hard to beat a team three times in a season and Windward came with a lot of energy, a lot of grit, we just outlasted them.”
Holguin, who has averaged 14.6 points a game. has been the star for a young Sage Hill team.
“That’s really because we’ve asked her to sacrifice a part of her game in order to get everyone better,” Walters said. “Amalia could probably average in the mid 20’s, but she sees the value in us being a better team. She can put up 24 or 28 when she needs to but she’s trusting her teammates a lot more …. and I think that’s the formula that makes us pretty dangerous.”
Holguin has a strong supporting cast too. Sophomore Kamdyn Klamberg is averaging 13.1 points a game and 5.2 rebounds. Klamberg was cheered on by her parents, Amy Klamberg and Kris Klamberg, former head basketball coaches at Irvine, Tuesday night.
Freshman Addison Uphoff is averaging 9.7 points and freshman Eve Fowler is averaging 7.7 points and 7.9 rebounds.
“We’re young, but we have a cast that plays well beyond their ages. Addison Uphoff, Eve Fowler, Kamden Klamberg and Alyssa Cuff all played really, really well and we know we had a couple girls who didn’t get as much time …. I know tomorrow they are all going to come to play and they are all going to be very energetic about being on this floor,” Walters said.
Sage Hill will be the only Orange County girls or boys basketball team in the state final.
“There are a lot of really good teams that probably deserve to be here,” Walters said. “Mater Dei has had a really great season, Portola, which is one of our league teammates, they were two games away from being here. But I think we’re fortunate and blessed to be in the position that we’re in. Our girls worked really hard and they’ve just buckled down and have done what they were able to do and we were fortunate we were able to play the defense we’ve been playing and been doing the things we’ve been doing in order to get here.
“It’s always an honor to be in a place like this, we don’t take it for granted making it this far and hopefully we represent OC in the best light possible.”
A humble Walters was reluctant to take credit for the program’s success.
“We’re going to do our best. It’s not me, it’s our coaches, it’s definitely the girls putting in the hard work to get here,” he said. “Hopefully we all benefit from their success and their intensity and their love of the game and their love for each other in order for us to hopefully bring home a trophy tomorrow.”
NOTE: Mark Bausman will be taking photos Friday of the Sage Hill vs. Carondelet game in Sacramento for OC Sports Zone. Please check out his photos and a story of the game Friday night.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com