Woodland Christian High’s girls basketball team played against Destiny Christian Academy to advance to the state tournament, with the Cardinals coming out victorious against the Lions.

“Buoyed by a sizeable home crowd at Jack Hamlin Gym, the girls brought a lot of energy to the court in our section quarterfinal matchup with 7th-seeded Destiny Christian Academy,” Head Coach Shiloh Sorbello recounted. “We ended the first quarter up 18-3 en route to a 69-23 win — our 23rd in a row.”

As a team, Woodland Christian passed the ball well, getting open looks on the perimeter and advantageous position in the interior. Senior Teagan Hayes stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, seven assists and six steals. Her fellow captain, Keziah Maldonado-Lemus, had 13 points, six assists and eight steals. They created a lot of problems for Destiny’s guards, even when changing into a half-court defense for the second half.

Game highlights included sophomore sharpshooter, Elena Ganyo, who had 18 points in just 17 minutes of action — sinking six threes from beyond the arch. She nailed seven threes against Destiny earlier in the year, when they played in our Cardinal Classic tournament, and she picked up where she left off by exploiting their zone defense.

Sorbello said one of the high points of the night was at the end of the game, when sophomore guard Kiley Ibarra, got into the action and blocked a shot on the defensive end before her long jumper on the other end just nearly missed the basket after it swirled along the rim.

Woodland Christian will host Argonaut on Tuesday in the section semifinal game. If they win, the Cardinals will play Friday morning at the Golden 1 Center in their first section title game.“As a semifinal team, we have qualified for the state tournament, which means our fans can enjoy some local March Madness,” Sorbello said. “Last season we lost in the section semifinals and went on to have two upsets win in the state tournament. This season, we hope to make it to the section final before tackling other teams from around the state.”