California CIF-Southern Section Girls Basketball Top 25 Rankings - Feb. 16, 2026

Oak Park, Rancho Christian climbs to new heights with huge Open Division playoff-opening wins; Windward returns; Troy debuts; Sage Hill stays hot

Amalia Holguin Sage Hill girls basketball at 2024 Cali Live in Ladera Ranch 6-14-15-2024 by Lance Smith.JPG /

Here are High School On SI's CIF-Southern Section girls basketball rankings for the week of Feb. 16.

The rankings will be released every Monday throughout the season.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS: Preseason | Dec. 1 | Dec. 8 | Dec. 15 | Dec. 22 | Dec. 29 | Jan. 5 | Jan. 12 | Jan. 19 | Jan. 26 | Feb. 2 | Feb. 9

1. ONTARIO CHRISTIAN (28-1 – 1st last week)

Ontario Christian's defense of its CIF-SS Open Division title is off to an ideal start. The Knights dominated Rancho Christian 122-72 to open pool play after winning by "only" 20 points when they also happened to play Rancho Christian in their regular season finale. Up next, they're a heavy favorite against JSerra.

2. SIERRA CANYON (26-2 – 2nd)

After Sierra Canyon cruised to a 77-51 playoff win over Oak Park last week, Oak Park went on to blow out Corona Centennial, which had kept up its strong play as of late despite the absence of Sydney Douglas. That makes the Trailblazers a particularly heavy favorite against Centennial on Wednesday despite the fact that they only won by seven points when these teams met on Dec. 30.

3. ETIWANDA (28-2 – 3rd)

Very possibly on its way to yet another Southern Section Open Division final, Etiwanda smoked Fairmont Prep 79-49 to open pool play. Up next is Saint Joseph (Lakewood), which the Eagles blew out 72-44 in mid-January.

4. SAGE HILL (25-4 – 4th)

The red-hot streak had no problem making the jump from regular season play to the postseason, which the Lighnting opened with a 71-47 rout of Redondo. Sage Hill is the favorite on Wednesday as it looks to climb a mountain it's narrowly come up short against a few times in recent history: fellow Orange County juggernaut Mater Dei.

5. MATER DEI (24-5 – 5th)

Mater Dei was tasked with making its playoff debut against a Redondo Union team that already had a lopsided playoff loss to Sage Hill under its belt, and it pulled out a 52-45 victory to keep all its hopes and dreams for the season alive. But the Monarchs will be the underdogs on Wednesday facing a Sage Hill team looking to officially take the Orange County throne – and make the section semifinals.

6. OAK PARK (20-8 – 8th)

The Eagles delivered big-time in their biggest game of the season, a playoff opener at higher-ranked, higher-seeded Corona Centennial. Their debut as a Southern Section Open Division team couldn't have gone much better as they rolled to a 67-44 rout ignited by a 17-6 first quarter in which Centennial shot an unbelievable 1-21 from the field. Karisma Flores scored a game-high 20 points.

7. CORONA CENTENNIAL (18-4 – 6th)

Despite the absence of 6-foot-7 forward Sydney Douglas, Centennial had played some of its best ball of the season entering its playoff opener against Oak Park. A 67-44 drubbing was not what the doctor ordered for the Huskies. Now they're tasked with bouncing back against Sierra Canyon, which beat them 62-55 in the regular season.

8. FAIRMONT PREP (17-13 – 9th)

After opening the playoffs with a 79-49 rout at the hands of Etiwanda, Fairmont Prep bounced back to beat Saint Joseph (Lakewood) 63-51 despite missing star senior and Harvard commit Adyra Rajan to injury. Had Fairmont Prep also been just one spot back from Centennial in our statewide rankings as well, we would've flipped the two squads with Fairmont Prep standing 1-0 against Centennial this season, but there were a few teams in between them.

9. RANCHO CHRISTIAN (23-7 – 11th)

After spending much of the season at Nos. 10-11 before dropping with the Moreno Valley loss, Rancho Christian now has its highest ranking of 2025-26. The Eagles fell 122-72 to Ontario Christian in CIF-SS Open Division pool play and then trekked to higher-ranked JSerra and emerged with a 73-71 win. Addison Archer has backed up her reputation as one of the nation's top freshmen all season long, and when Rancho Christian needed it most, she dropped 37 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists on 16-24 shooting against the No. 8 seed in the section. She's up to 27.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 3.0 steals per game on 64% shooting.

10. JSERRA (19-7 – 7th)

The Lions have now lost five of their last eight games and are headed to top-ranked Ontario Christian on Wednesday.

11. VENTURA (26-4 – 10th)

Ventura has looked the part of a CIF-SS Division1 title favorite through two playoff games – not to mention the entire regular season. The Cougars started the postseason in style by beating Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 59-41 and Bishop Montgomery 50-40.

12. MORENO VALLEY (18-11 – 12th)

So far so good in the D1 playoffs for the Vikings, which have blown out Village Christian and St. Bonaventure to get the ball rolling. Up next is Orange Lutheran, so the Vikings should be ready for a tougher battle, but they're still the heavy favorites.

13. REDONDO UNION (17-9 – 13th)

After getting blown out by Sage Hill, Redondo was tasked with heading to Mater Dei where it pushed the Monarchs to a 53-45 finish.

14. VALENCIA-VALENCIA (26-4 – 14th)

Valencia is still putting a hurting on all challengers through the first two rounds of the CIF-SS D1 playoffs. It opened by routing Chino 76-44 and Mira Costa 81-56.

15. SAINT JOSEPH-LAKEWOOD (21-6 – 16th)

Back in the statewide top 25 and section-wide top 15 with Brentwood going down, although it was a rough start to CIF-SS Open Division life for the Jesters as they fell 63-51 to a Fairmont Prep squad that was at less than full strength. It doesn't get easier from here as Saint Joseph closes pool play against Etiwanda.

16. LA SALLE (26-4 – 17th)

Up to its highest ranking of the season after beating Buena Park 62-39 and St. Anthony, for the third time this season, 48-42 to make the CIF-SS D1 quarterfinals. That game is basically a toss-up against No. 18 Villa Park and we'd be stunned if it doesn't come down to the wire.

17. BRENTWOOD (23-7 – 15th)

Some people are of the opinion that postseason power rankings should always be in direct order of playoff finish, and it's hard to say that viewpoint is totally invalid. But if that's the case, then power rankings are basically pointless and regular season results mean nothing when doing them. Brentwood was surprisingly taken down by lower-ranked Troy by a score of 61-48, ending the Eagles' season. If the Eagles were to play again tomorrow – which is what power rankings speak to – there still aren't 20 Southern Section teams we'd take above them. For now, they only drop a couple spots, even though they'd of course rather be in Troy's shoes – ranked lower (for now at least), but still in the playoffs.

18. VILLA PARK (23-7 – 19th)

For an early-round postseason game, it probably doesn't get a ton sweeter than Villa Park's win over Santa Margarita. It was a revenge game after Santa Margarita won 51-48 on Dec. 6, which was Villa Park's only loss until Dec. 22. And the Spartans probably got tired of hearing and reading that they would have been ranked extremely high during that span, which featured a win over JSerra, if not for the Santa Margarita loss. To top it off, their revenge win over Santa Margarita came by 13 points and puts them back ahead of Esperanza – which upset the Spartans twice for a league title to eventually pass them in the rankings – largely because Santa Margarita was fresh off its second double-digit win of the season over Esperanza.

19. SANTA MARGARITA (18-11 – 20th)

For the second year in a row, Santa Margarita goes 18-11 and falls in the second round of the CIF-SS D1 playoffs. But look at the teams Santa Margarita beat or played down to the wire this season, and it's clear that the Eagles had their strongest season in a good while. Before losing 58-45 to Villa Park, they opened the playoffs with a 65-54 victory against Esperanza.

20. ESPERANZA (19-10 – 18th)

No playoff success for the Aztecs in 2025-26, but they did take home a title in one of Southern California's tougher leagues via sweep. End of this chapter for standout twin guards Charlotte and Alexa Muller, the former of whom finished her career as Esperanza's all-time leading scorer.

21. WINDWARD (17-12 – Unranked)

The thing with Windward is that they were always a no-doubt top-20 team in the section with Princeton-bound junior guard Angelina Habis in the lineup. She was out through Christmas due to the transfer sit-out period and missed significant time after that with an injury. But she's back in action and Windward is rolling. One could argue they still deserve a lower ranking due to their inconsistency with her out of the lineup, but for us, the fact that Habis has reentered the fray and Windward just beat Flintridge Prep by 15 points is enough to ride with them from a rankings standpoint.

22. FLINTRIDGE PREP (23-4 – 22nd)

After opening the playoffs with a 59-44 win over Rialto, the Wolves saw their season come to an end with a 64-49 loss to a relatively healthy Windward team. That ends the fantastic, prolific high school career of senior guard/wing Maddie Smith, who is off to play for Yale.

23. TROY (22-8 – Bubble)

If any team outside the top 25 was going to make an underdog run in Division 1 – not including Windward and its improved health situation – there's no surprise to see that it's Troy. The Warriors have been unpredictable and inconsistent but explosive and dangerous all season, are coached by legendary former Mater Dei coach Kevin Kiernan, and entered the playoffs on a season-best five-game winning streak to sweep the Freeway League. Now they look to upset Valencia (Valencia) in the quarterfinals after beating Los Osos and Brentwood – by margins of 12 and 13 points, respectively, at that.

24. RIALTO (23-4 – 22nd)

Rialto couldn't break through in the playoffs, losing 59-44 to a Flintridge team that it had lost 71-40 in the regular season. That ends the remarkable and entertaining high school career of former state champion Jackie Polk, who averaged 25 points as a senior.

25. ORANGE LUTHERAN (19-8 – 25th)

Now 11 games over .500 and back to the CIF-SS D1 quarterfinals. OLu made quick work of a tough West (Torrance) team in round one, winning 56-35, and then won 55-48 over Marlborough, which had just upset Beckman.

ON THE BUBBLE:

LOS OSOS, NORTH (TORRANCE), OAK HILLS, ROSARY ACADEMY, PORTOLA, ST. MARGARET'S, BECKMAN, MIRA COSTA