SBLive’s California Girls Basketball Top 25: Corona Centennial finishes No. 1 in statewide rankings after beating Mater Dei

The Corona Centennial girls basketball team capped off its 2021 season with a 65-51 victory over Mater Dei in the CIF Southern Region Open Division championship game, vaulting the Huskies to No. 1 in the final statewide rankings of the season.

The Corona Centennial girls basketball team capped off its 2021 season with a 65-51 victory over Mater Dei in the CIF Southern Region Open Division championship game, vaulting the Huskies to No. 1 in the final statewide rankings of the season.

SBLive’s statewide California high school girls basketball rankings are compiled by reporter Lance Smith and are released weekly throughout the spring 2021 season. Here are the final rankings of 2021:

SBLIVE CALIFORNIA TOP 25 GIRLS BASKETBALL RANKINGS

June 21, 2021

1. Corona Centennial (25-1)

The Huskies claim the top spot in our rankings for the first time this season after defeating Mater Dei 65-51 in the CIF Southern Region Open Division finals.

2. Mater Dei (21-1)

Mater Dei falls off the top spot after holding it all season, but still finishes the campaign as the reigning back-to-back CIF Southern Section Open Division champion.

3. Clovis West (20-1)

After dominating the regular season and establishing itself as the best team in Northern and Central California, Clovis West beat Bonita Vista and played Cen10 down to single-digits in the state playoffs. The Golden Eagles finish the season in the top three, where they very well could have spent much more of the season.

4. Cathedral Catholic (20-4)

The Dons won the championship in the San Diego Section's top division.

5. Bonita Vista (24-5)

The Barons came up short in the playoffs this year, but still finish the season as a top-two team in the San Diego Section and a top-five team in California.

6. Harvard-Westlake (22-4)

While the Wolverines didn't bring home any CIF hardware this season, finishing as a clear top-three team in the Southern Section is an outstanding achievement.

7. St. Mary's (Stockton) (8-1)

The Rams haven't played in nearly a month, but they made their nine games count this season to cement themselves as a top-10 team in California with room to spare.

8. Pinewood (17-0)

Pinewood ran the table and defeated top-seeded Archbishop Mitty to win the Central Coast Section Open Division.

9. La Jolla Country Day (16-5)

Not many teams can graduate a national player of the year candidate and remain a top-10 team in California. But that's what the Torreys did this season – and they have one of the best underclassmen cores in the country.

10. Windward (14-3)

The Wildcats went 2-1 in CIFSS Open Division pool play but weren't in the state playoffs.

11. Archbishop Mitty (13-2)

No hardware for the CIFCCS powerhouse this season, but they still had a dominant regular season in which they walloped some of the best teams in NorCal.

12. Lynwood (16-5)

Lynwood's senior core went out with a bang, beating Mission Hills, Orangewood Academy, and Etiwanda for a Southern Region title. The Knights won Division 1-AA as the eighth seed out of eight.

13. Etiwanda (18-5)

After the previously undefeated Eagles caught an untimely case of the injury bug right before the playoffs, they still made a brilliant run to the SoCal 1-AA title game. Etiwanda may have the opportunity to make up for lost time in coming years, as next season could bring their best team yet.

14. Salesian (14-1)

Salesian's season ended early in June. The Pride will return nearly its whole core next season, and could very well be in the running for a state Open Division finals appearance.

15. West (Torrance) (18-5)

West had nice playoff wins over Orangewood Academy and Bishop's, and made the CIF Southern Region 1-AA semifinals.

16. Orangewood Academy (13-9)

The Spartans finished one of the most top-heavy schedules in the state with a 13-9 record, and had a great win against Carlsbad to make the 1-AA semis.

17. Long Beach Poly (18-2)

Poly wrapped up a memorably dominant playoff run in which it ran away with titles in both CIFSS Division 1 and CIF Southern Region 1-A.

18. Mission Hills (21-7)

The Grizzlies finished the season with back-to-back playoff losses against Cathedral Catholic and Lynwood, but retain the 18th spot.

19. Esperanza (22-4)

Esperanza had the misfortune of running into Poly in the playoffs – twice. But the Aztecs still reeled off an outstanding 22-4 season with a Southern Section Division 1 finals appearance, and edged out Caruthers in the regional playoffs.

20. Rosary Academy (19-6)

The Royals narrowly beat Fairmont Prep in the 1-A semifinals to finish the season ranked in our top 20.

21. Fairmont Prep (17-8)

Fairmont lost a heartbreaker against Rosary to end the season, but had an outstanding blowout win against Mount Miguel to open the regional playoffs first.

22. Mater Dei Catholic (20-9)

With such a top-heavy schedule, the Crusaders spent nearly their whole season against either full-blown elites or teams that had no chance. They really showed what they could do en-route to a CIF Southern Region 2-AA championship by knocking off both CIFSS 2-AA finalists, Alemany and Cajon, by at least 14 points.

23. Antelope (9-1)

Antelope hasn't played in a month.

24. Sierra Canyon (20-5)

The Trailblazers weren't selected to play in the state playoffs.

25. Roosevelt (Eastvale) (13-2)

Like Sierra Canyon, Roosevelt finished its season with a narrow CIFSS Division 1 quarterfinals loss.