Dec 12, 2025 By Bill Hughes 2 min read

There are lofty goals for the California girls basketball team for the 2025-26 season.

Just ask second-year head coach Brandi Sutherland.

“The goal is to win the section this season,” she said. “The girls have been working hard, and my expectations are high for this team.”

Things are much different going into this season as compared to last year, with Sutherland having been hired in October of 2024, which gave her a handful of weeks to get things going.

“Last year, we started our coaching journey literally before the season started,” she said. “This year, we were able to have open gyms and conditioning before the season began.”

Having a full offseason helped as well.

“We were able to keep a schedule over the summer,” Collins said. “Some of our girls played summer league as well.”

The Lady Trojans return a trio of starters in senior forward Madyson Morton and a pair of juniors in forward/center Hayley Gibson and guard Lauren Hartley.

Three other players return plenty of experience in junior forward Tatiana Mathianas and the sophomore backcourt duo of Olivia Gibson and Kylie Johnson.

There are seven newcomers to this year’s team, and they include senior forward Sydney Dunn, junior guard Emily Vig, and a quintet of freshmen in guards Lilah Estis, Meadow Meier, and Aubrey Cellurale, wing Lila Mitchell, and forward Macie Huba.

California is in Section 3-AA along with Bentworth, Beth-Center, Carmichaels, Chartiers-Houston, and Jefferson-Morgan.

When asked who she felt the top teams in the section were, Sutherland did not hesitate.

“Chartiers-Houston and (us),” she said.