Wilson’s Jordyn Jefferson (3) shoots for two in front of El Dorado’s Karis Wu (30) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson’s Emily Alvarez Smith tries to get past El Dorado’s Kennedy Wood (10) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Kennedy Wood (10) races ahead of Wilson’s Emily Alvarez Smith (5) and Trinidad Zuckerman Are (33) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson’s Tyshana Alexander (14) puts the pressure on El Dorado’s Delaney Shiring (12) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado girls basketball celebrate their big win over Wilson in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Riley Morikawa (15) and Alaina Zamora (13) try to block Wilson’s Tyshana Alexander (14) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Delaney Shiring (12) tries to block Wilson’s Kennedy People (2) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson’s Trinidad Zuckerman Are (33) and Emily Alvarez Smith (5) put the pressure on El Dorado’s Delaney Shiring (12) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado girls basketball celebrate as they take a dominant lead agains Wilson in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Delaney Shiring (12) looks to get around Wilson’s Kennedy People (2) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson’s Emily Alvarez Smith (5) pushes past El Dorado’s Kennedy Wood (10) and Alaina Zamora (13) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Delaney Shiring (12) tries to get around Wilson’s Tyshana Alexander (14) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
El Dorado’s Alaina Zamora (13) tries to block as Wilson’s Jordyn Jefferson (3) shoots for two in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Wilson’s Jordyn Jefferson (3) grabs the rebound as the Bruins take on El Dorado in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Show Caption
1 of 14
Wilson’s Jordyn Jefferson (3) shoots for two in front of El Dorado’s Karis Wu (30) in the CIF SS Division 4 quarterfinals in Long Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
LONG BEACH — If someone had told Long Beach Wilson girls basketball coach Hank Waddles that his team would make a 13-win improvement from last season and qualify for the postseason, he would have signed up immediately.
Nonetheless, the emotions were still raw as his players trickled out of the locker room and wiped away tears Wednesday following a 42-20 loss to El Dorado in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals.
Waddles was not any less proud despite the Bruins’ issues handling the Golden Hawks’ defensive pressure from wire to wire.
“We told the girls, ‘You can hold two different emotions,’” Waddles said. “‘You can be sad and disappointed, and you can also be proud of what we’ve accomplished.’
“If you had told me a year ago that I’d be disappointed with a loss in the CIF quarterfinals, I could not have imagined that. Our goal this year was to make the playoffs — we were hoping to make the playoffs — and we won two games, we got to the quarterfinals, and with a really young team.”
The loss ended the season for Wilson (22-9).
The Bruins were paced by guard Emily Alvarez-Smith, who scored five of her 15 points in the second half.
El Dorado (17-14) made sure nobody else got in an offensive rhythm, collecting 15 steals and forcing 30 turnovers.
The Golden Hawks allowed just six first-half points and two made Alvarez-Smith shots from the field en route to a 35-6 lead at the break.
Guard Kennedy Wood collected 11 points to go with six steals and forward Delaney Shiring scored a team-high 15 points for El Dorado.
“We knew coming into this we needed to put a lot of pressure on the guards in order for them not to be able to get it into the post,” Wood said.
Wood had five of her steals in the first half. Teammates Riley Morikawa and Alaina Zamora each finished with three steals apiece for a defense that continually stepped into the passing lanes for deflections.
El Dorado will host Marina (18-13) in the semifinals Saturday.
“Since we’ve made the playoffs, we’ve been playing great defense,” Golden Hawks coach Matthew Raya said. “We stress defense first, and tonight we had a lot of ball pressure. I felt our guards were quicker than theirs. I thought we would be able to keep everybody in front and we did a very good job. We limited their easy layups and them from getting into the paint.”
Waddles said his team did not lack preparation nor was it caught off guard. He estimated that he watched eight to 10 games of film, but also noted his young roster featured two freshmen and two sophomores in the starting lineup.
Alvarez-Smith was proud of the program’s journey and improvement highlighted by playoff wins over Hesperia and Westlake.
“The message was we made it this far,” Alvarez-Smith said. “Everybody probably thought we couldn’t make it — last year we had a struggle. This year, we were a really young team and we were all just proud of each other. We worked our butts off.”
El Dorado set the tone from the outset, forcing five turnovers on Wilson’s first seven possessions.
The Bruins trailed 15-1 and did not score from the field for the game’s first 5 1/2 minutes.
In the second quarter, mental miscues such as a handful of palming violations and a shot-clock violation with 10.9 left were Wilson’s downfall.
“They applied some pressure to us and we didn’t quite match that,” Waddles said. “We had a hard time running our sets. We were never comfortable on the offensive end tonight.”
Shiring said the El Dorado defense allowed for easy baskets in transition and a balanced scoring effort.
“Our defense helped us start with a strong lead,” Shiring said. “We do really well in games where we can start strong and get energy right from the beginning. We definitely were at an advantage when our guards were getting a lot of steals.”
Both teams struggled shooting in the third quarter, but Wilson was unable to take advantage of eight consecutive El Dorado missed shots to close the quarter and never made a serious run. The Bruins trailed 38-12 entering the fourth.
Waddles was proud of a second-effort led by Alvarez-Smith, who competed through to the end despite what the scoreboard read.
Waddles pulled Alvarez-Smith beside him after the game as he showered her with praise.
“What I told Emily was in these three playoff games — when the lights are the brightest, when the pressure is the greatest — she was our best player,” Waddles said. “She’s only a sophomore, she’s got so much more basketball in her, so much more basketball improvement. This right here, this is just the beginning for her, and she was tough tonight. She was tough and you can’t teach that.”