Top 25 California Girls High School Basketball State Rankings - Jan. 5, 2025

Etiwanda is back up to No. 4 following a big week with two new faces in action; Saint Francis (Mountain View) pulls off a rare feat by debuting at No. 10 this late into the season; Clayton Valley Charter and Central East also debut; McKenna Woliczko makes her return for No. 2 Mitty

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As of last week, reigning Open Division state finalists Etiwanda and Archbishop Mitty are at full strength for the first time in the 2025-26 season. That simultaneously restores a bit of normalcy to California's high school girls basketball landscape and adds a new level of intrigue at the top, where Ontario Christian has been separating more and more from the rest of the pack.

With that said, here are High School On SI's California top 25 girls basketball rankings for the week of Jan. 5.

The rankings will be updated every Monday throughout the season.

PREVIOUS RANKINGS: Preseason | Dec. 8 | Dec. 15 | Dec. 22 | Dec. 29

1. ONTARIO CHRISTIAN (18-0 – 1st last week)

Business as usual for the No. 1 team in high school girls basketball. Ontario Christian's 76-54 win over Texas powerhouse Summer Creek was, believe it or not, its least lopsided win of the year. The Knights followed it up by beating Oak Park 94-48, Carondelet 100-49, and 89-49. On Saturday it's finally time for Ontario Christian's rematch with a full-strength Mitty squad.

2. ARCHBISHOP MITTY (10-1 – 2nd)

McKenna Woliczko said she's never been stronger from head to toe with all the extra conditioning she's done during rehab for her torn ACL. / Photo by Dennis Lee

It's a thrilling time to be an Archbishop Mitty fan. After the rest of the team held it down and then some in her year on the sidelines, 5-star Iowa signee McKenna Woliczko dominated with 19 points and 13 rebounds in 14 minutes in her return, a blowout of No. 21 Clovis.

3. SIERRA CANYON (13-1 – 3rd)

Sierra Canyon's stock is the highest it's been since the Juju Watkins era. The Trailblazers held off No. 6 Corona Centennial 62-55 to move to 8-0 with three national-caliber wins since Jerzy Robinson returned from an ankle injury that kept her out of the team's first six games. Mission League play will be the same jaunt for Sierra Canyon that it's been for years now.

4. ETIWANDA (13-2 – 7th)

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As expected, Etiwanda made its move as soon as the transfer sit-out period was over. The Eagles have taken down Lake Washington (WA), Oregon heavyweights Benson Tech and Tualatin, and Oakland Tech and No. 7 St. Mary's (Stockton) in five games with Tess Oldenburg and Jaylee Moore in action. Etiwanda is now back to No. 4 with a chance to contend for the top spot down the stretch of the season.

5. CLOVIS WEST (17-1 – 5th)

While the Golden Eagles' unbeaten streak is over, their stock is more or less unharmed by a 67-46 loss to nationally ranked Bishop Gorman (NV) that many expected to be a closer game, as Bishop Gorman is one of the best teams in the country. Clovis West bounced back for an excellent win after that, a 79-54 romp of Fairmont Prep.

6. CORONA CENTENNIAL (5-1 – 8th)

Sierra Canyon is a legitimate national title contender, and Corona Centennial played the Trailblazers down to a 62-55 finish in the program's first test of this new era. Not the result Centennial wanted, but not bad. The Huskies then went on to beat red-hot No. 17 Clayton Valley Charter 62-49 and Archbishop Riordan 71-48.

7. ST. MARY'S-STOCKTON (11-2 – 4th)

The Rams' unbeaten run came crashing to a halt with a 67-58 upset loss to surging No. 12 Sage Hill followed by a 61-56 loss to Etiwanda. That pair of losses was enough to hurt their stock but by no means has to derail their season. St. Mary's has a nice opportunity on Tuesday to bounce back against quality competition with St. Ignatius on deck.

8. SAN RAMON VALLEY (11-2 – 6th)

Without incurring any losses, San Ramon Valley has dropped three spots in two weeks due mostly to St. Mary's drop. For now, the Wolves are still tied heavily to the Rams' stock due to St. Mary's' 55-50 win on Dec. 2. But that doesn't have to hold them back in the rankings for the entire season. San Ramon Valley plays probably its biggest game of the regular season on Friday at arch rival Carondelet, against which it's a heavy favorite.

9. JSERRA (14-2 – 10th)

It was yet another remarkable week for the Lions, which are now six weeks removed from their 44-40 loss to Villa Park. They beat Oak Park 53-48, Redondo Union 65-40, and Fairmont Prep 51-33 to close the calendar year in style.

10. SAINT FRANCIS-MOUNTAIN VIEW (12-1 – Bubble)

We thought we were pretty high on the Lancers entering 2025-26, putting them on the bubble and considering them a strong candidate to eventually land themselves in the top 20. Turns out they're a top-10 team in California entering WCAL play after a stunning 74-62 upset of Fairmont Prep. Saint Francis' only loss was 75-42 against San Ramon Valley, and that was its first game of the season. In one fell swoop, Saint Francis just went to having zero wins against state-ranked competition to possessing a win over a top-100 team in the country.

11. FAIRMONT PREP (8-8 – 9th)

A bizarre week, and not to the Huskies' benefit, but it only cost them two spots. After going ballistic on offense in a 109-89 win against Rancho Christian to follow up a slight upset win over Texas' stalwart Summer Creek, Fairmont Prep scored less than one third as many points in a 51-33 loss to JSerra, and that was just the beginning. The Huskies then lost in a major upset to Saint Francis (Mountain View) for the second season in a row by a score of 74-62 and got dismantled 79-54 by Clovis West.

12. SAGE HILL (14-4 – 13th)

Now on quite a nine-game winning streak. With a 67-58 win over previous No. 4 St. Mary's, the Lightning were clear to pass Oak Park in the rankings despite their 59-56 loss to Oak Park on Jan. 6, which was their last loss. And that wasn't their only good win last week – they also won 56-50 against previously unbeaten Oregon powerhouse West Linn and 79-57 over Mission Hills, with Kamdyn Klamberg dropping 31 points in the latter. Sage Hill's other losses were to Etiwanda, JSerra, and Sierra Canyon, all of which are higher-ranked.

13. MATER DEI (11-4 – 11th)

Here's a secret: Mater Dei was so good before faltering at the Nike TOC that we assumed 5-star South Carolina commit and senior F Kaeli Wynn was back in action after her status for the season was unclear due to an injury that would ultimately cost her the season. The Monarchs officially returned to that level of play last week despite opening with a 20-point loss to nationally ranked Tualatin, the top team in Oregon. They regrouped to win 57-42 over a Benson Tech (OR) team that very nearly beat Etiwanda the prior day, then crushed Desert Vista (AZ) 72-20, and then took down nationally ranked Democracy Prep Agassi Campus (NV), which was also missing a star player to injury after upsetting Etiwanda earlier in the season before it occured but is still formidable. Harmony Golightly had 28 points in the win over DPAC.

14. OAK PARK (10-5 – 12th)

It's not often that a team this high up in the rankings loses a game by 46 points and more or less holds its ground in the pecking order, but such is life when you take on Ontario Christian. Before that, the Eagles held off La Jolla Country Day 57-53.

15. CARONDELET (13-3 – 14th)

On a similar note to Oak Park, Carondelet stayed put in the rankings despite a 100-49 loss because the loss was to No. 1 Ontario Christian. The Cougars bounced back after that with a 62-52 win over Saint Joseph (Lakewood). The reason they moved up was Fairmont Prep's rough week, which put a wrench in the ranking stock of a few other Southern Section juggernauts.

16. RANCHO CHRISTIAN (12-3 – 15th)

Win or lose, few teams anywhere in high school basketball enforce their desired pace as well as Rancho Christian. Despite giving up a whopping 109 points, the Eagles scored 89 in their loss to Fairmont Prep before notching an 84-73 win over a Redondo Union team that has held some outstanding offenses to roughly half as many points.

17. CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER (7-5 – Bubble)

Now more than halfway through the regular season, Clayton Valley Charter is officially the best team that we slept on entering 2025-26. The Ugly Eagles, led by junior Ella Scott and Deoujenea Clay, are now up to No. 16 after they weren't even on the bubble until a week ago. They have five double-digit losses, but every one of them was against excellent competition – Maryknoll (HI), Kamehameha Kapalama (HI), No. 4 Etiwanda, Putnam City North (OK), and last week, No. 6 Corona Centennial. They've been lights out against everyone else, headlined by a 68-62 win over Middleton (arguably the best team in Idaho) and last week's surprisingly lopsided 63-44 upset of Caruthers.

18. CARUTHERS (8-4 – 17th)

If entering last week's slate of Buchanan (Clovis), Clayton Valley Charter, and Priory coming up, we told you that Caruthers would end up with two double-digit wins and a 19-point loss , you probably wouldn't have expected the loss to be the Clayton Valley Charter game. By all indications, Caruthers actually had a good week despite finding out the hard way Clayton Valley Charter is better than almost anyone expected.

19. BUCHANAN-CLOVIS (16-2 – 16th)

Last week's 69-55 loss to Caruthers was sandwiched in between 20-point wins over Valley Christian (San Jose) and Monterey Trail. Friday brings one of the most intriguing games of the regular season anywhere in California as Buchanan takes on rival Clovis with a chance to establish itself as a top-two team in the TRAC.

20. FRANCIS PARKER (9-4 – 21st)

In a week filled with eyebrow-raising wins, Francis Parker's 65-31 beatdown of Redondo stands near or at the top of the list. The only thing holding the Lancers back a few spots in the rankings for a while now was a 64-52 loss on Nov. 29 to a Centennial (NV) team that lost to Clovis and Mission Hills. Francis Parker has won six of its last seven against tough competition to help put that loss into the past from a rankings persepctive.

21. CLOVIS (9-8 – 22nd)

Shoutout to Clovis for putting together quite literally one of the toughest non-league schedules in the entire country. Surely the team hoped to be better than one game above .500 17 games into the season, but seven of the losses were against higher-ranked competition, and the only loss that wasn't just got avenged. The Cougars got back at Priory with a 44-30 win last week and then took down Hawaii powerhouse Kamehameha Kapalama in a bit of an upset to win the West Coast Jamboree. After that they got annihilated by Ontario Christian and Mitty, which should only serve to tune them up heading into a particularly intriguing season of TRAC play.

22. REDONDO UNION (8-5 – 18th)

Brutal week for the Sea Hawks. They opened with a 65-40 loss to JSerra and an 84-73 loss to Rancho Christian, which isn't enough to move them down. But a 65-31 loss to Francis Parker – despite coming against worthy competition – is cause for concern.

23. MISSION HILLS (7-6 – 20th)

After a strong performance at Nike TOC, Mission Hills was not on its game in Portland at the Nike POA Holiday Classic nor in its first game back in SoCal after that. The Grizzlies opened with an understandable 75-63 loss to Washington powerhouse Davis before eking out a 51-48 win over a Century (OR) team they were expected to blow out. After that, they took care of business with a rout of Lincoln (Seattle, WA) and lost 79-57 to a Sage Hill team they'd played to a single-digit finish two weeks prior.

24. VILLA PARK (15-3 – 25th)

Tremendous week for the Spartans, which were coming off their toughest week of the season. They put back-to-back out-of-state losses behind them by winning 56-50 against Oakland Tech, 67-62 against Valencia (Valencia), and 58-28 over Crean Lutheran in their North Hills League opener. Despite their Dec. 6 loss to Santa Margarita, Villa Park could potentially rise several spots just by holding down the fort in league play with a November win over JSerra under their belt.

25. CENTRAL EAST (8-6 – Bubble)

Like its TRAC rival Clovis, Central East has played a borderline-national schedule and its losses have all been to highly ranked competition. So it was clear to make its debut in this season's top 25 after a 49-44 upset of Priory.

ON THE BUBBLE:

PRIORY, BISHOP O'DOWD, VALENCIA (VALENCIA), BRENTWOOD, VENTURA, SAINT JOSEPH (LAKEWOOD), LA SALLE, MORENO VALLEY, PIEDMONT, LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY, PINEWOOD