The 2026 DIAA state basketball tournaments will conclude on Saturday with the girls and boys championship games. The St. Elizabeth Vikings and Sanford Warriors will battle it out in the girls game at 1:00 p.m., and the Howard Wildcats and St. Georges Hawks will match up in the boys game at 7:00 p.m. Both games will be at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center.

 

The DIAA will crown two new state champions this Saturday, concluding a fun 2026 season of high school basketball. The girls title game will be played first, with tip-off scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game will feature the third seeded St. Elizabeth Vikings facing off against the top seeded Sanford Warriors. The boys title game will take place at 7:00 p.m. and feature the second seeded Howard Wildcats and fourth seeded St. Georges Hawks.

Here’s a look at how each team got here and what to look for in the championship games:

Sanford vs St. Elizabeth:

Both teams finished the regular season well and carried that momentum into the postseason. Both teams earned a first round bye, so their tournament run didn’t begin until the second round.

Sanford defeated Tatnall, 64-22, in the second round and defeated last year’s state champion — Caravel — in the quarterfinals. The Warriors faced a tough Smyrna team in the semifinal, but held them to 39 points to advance. 

Junior Asia Adams is the team’s catalyst on the offensive end. She’s led the team in scoring in all three of their tournament games, amassing 67 points in the tournament thus far. 

Adams isn’t the only Warrior contributing. The team has a lot of depth and has received contributions all throughout its roster during the tournament.  Freshman Kha’Nihya Johnson played a big role in Sanford’s win over Smyrna, scoring 13 points, and sophomore Kaylee Pechickjian scored 14 to help the Warriors defeat Caravel. Sophomore Aslyn Merrell scored 12 in the teams’ first tournament game and juniors Adrianna Chambers and Gabriela Domenick have given head coach Marcus Thompson strong minutes on both ends of the floor.

“I think we have that bond as a team where like we just know each other, even without communication, we just know how to play together,” Johnson said after Sanford’s semifinal win against Smyrna.  

The Vikings have a similar amount of depth with potential Delaware Player of the Year Skylar Bolden leading the way. 

Bolden finished the regular season with a team-high 300 points scored. Bolden led the team in scoring in the Vikings’ first tournament game against Odessa with 17 points and has scored in double figures in their last two games. 

Senior Za’Mylah Seda-Owens paced the team in their second tournament win against Padua, scoring a team-high 21 points with three made 3-pointers to help return St. Elizabeth to “The Bob” and freshman Taylor Tucker scored a team high 12 points in the Vikings’ semifinal win Tuesday night. Senior Makayla Sullivan and sophomore Anissa Harris have had strong moments in the tournament too, giving head coach Tye Taylor multiple options to rely upon in big moments.

To read more in-depth coverage of the girls semifinal games click here. 

These two teams haven’t matched up this season, but they did play each other in last year’s semifinal round. The Vikings won the game, 40-31, but lost in the championship game against Caravel. Taylor said the championship game experience will be “huge” as the team attempts to win the state title game for the first time since 2021.

“We’ve been here before, done it, right now it’s just another day at the office for us,” Taylor said postgame after defeating Ursuline in the semifinals.

Howard vs St. Georges:

The Wildcats and Hawks will play their third game against each other this season when they step onto the court, Saturday night. 

The first matchup came early in the season and resulted in a five-point victory for the Wildcats who started the season, 3-1. 

Howard finished the regular season with a 15-5 record and a chance at the Blue Hen Conference Championship, but fell to St. Georges in the conference’s championship game. The Hawks’ win was their final in an eight game winning streak entering the DIAA state tournament and the loss ended a six game winning streak the Wildcats achieved at the end of the regular season.

Both teams ended up with a first round bye and started their tournament schedule in the second round. 

Howard faced a tough Tatnall team in the second round, but walked away with a ten-point victory due in part to a 21-point performance from senior Bryson Lane. Lane followed it up with another 21-point performance in the team’s quarterfinal victory over Cape Henlopen and a seven point performance in the semifinal puts his tournament total at 49 points. 

Fellow seniors Nicholas Baysah, Ronald Handy and Dominic Awahmukalah are crucial members of the team’s attack both offensively and defensively. Baysah was integral to Howard’s semifinal win, quarterbacking the offense with eight assists to go along with seven points and seven rebounds. Awahmukalah has scored double digit points in each tournament game thus far and Handy has recorded a steal or block in each tournament game.

“We knew we had the dynamic and makeup to make a strong run, it was gonna come down to are we physical enough, do we have enough size to out rebound people, always knew we could score, always knew we could, you know, pressure teams, but could we do the intangibles,” head coach Rahsaan Matthews Sr. said postgame about the expectations of the team. “These 11 guys, specifically these nine seniors, have bought into Howard over their individual goals and accomplishments, trying to cement their legacy as one of the best teams Howard’s ever had.”

Junior Ghazi Abdurrafi has scored 27 points during the tournament and fellow junior Zi’Yon Henderson-Conkey led the team in scoring against William Penn in the Wildcats’ semifinal win, showing the strong depth Matthews has curated within his program. 

The Hawks are led by Delaware Player of the Year candidate, senior Joshua Obiora. Obiora led the team in scoring and rebounds this season, providing an incredible presence underneath the basket. Obiora has recorded a double-double in every tournament game thus far, leading the team in scoring with 55 points during the tournament. 

Fellow big, Jayden Reid, has scored double digit points in the team’s last two games and was a crucial piece in the team’s victory over Dover in the semifinals, scoring 16 points in the first half. Junior Amere Rhoades scored a team-high 12 points in St. Georges’ first tournament win against Odessa and sophomores Elijah Coates and Corey Williams combined for 26 points and nine assists in the team’s quarterfinal win against Caravel. Freshman Ayden Davis played a key role in the semifinals scoring 15 points and converting on clutch free throws late in the game.

To read more in-depth coverage of the boys semifinal games click here.

St. Georges’ roster is young with only two seniors and three juniors on the team, but the young talent has shown up in the biggest moments for head coach Rod Griffin.

“We know that every possession matters, everything counts,” Reid said postgame about the team’s mindset heading into the championship game after winning in the semifinals. “There was turning points in this game that, you know, at any point you could lose it and at any point we can win it as we’ve seen in past years. So like we just gotta step on the gas and make sure every play is a good play.”

The St. Georges Hawks defeated the top-seeded Dover Senators, 63-57, and Howard defeated William Penn, 52-45, to move on to the 2026 DIAA state championship game. The state championship will be played at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

 

NEWARK — The Hawks and Wildcats won a pair of close matchups to advance on to the season’s final game. St. Georges will play in its first championship game since 2016 and Howard is making its first appearance in the championship since winning it all in 2013. 

St. Georges defeats Dover, 63-57:

St. Georges’ senior Joshua Obiora backpedaled in the lane as Dover junior Kareem King drove toward the basket late in the fourth quarter. Obiora slid his feet and got between King and the hoop. King tried to create a little space by driving into the body of Obiora, but the length of the senior dismissed any advantage the move created. Obiora blocked King’s layup and the rejection hit off the junior while he laid out of bounds, giving the Hawks possession with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game. 

St. Georges led by four at the time, but a couple of free throws by freshman Ayden Davis increased the lead to six. 

“I just wanted to stay composed, you know, just had to hit the shots and seal the game. I knew we [were] going to win from there,” Davis said postgame. 

Obiora knocked down two free throws on the Hawks’ next possession creating an eight point advantage that was too much for Dover to overcome with less than 30 seconds to play. Obiora grabbed the final rebound of the game and let out an excited scream while celebrating with Davis near the three point line, before hyping up the Hawks fans in attendance.

“It’s just crazy, like that’s what we practice for, that’s what the whole season’s about to make it here,” Obiora said about the Bob Carpenter Center atmosphere. “The environment was crazy, I had to get everybody riled up.” 

The senior finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds in addition to six blocks and four steals. Nine of his points came at the start of the fourth quarter, following a 3-pointer from Senator senior Kameron Jackson-Dickson that cut St. Georges’ lead to one early in the fourth.

“He’s the only captain that we have. He’s a leader and he’s more vocal than ever and he brings it on and off the court,” St. Georges’ head coach Rod Griffin said postgame about Obiora. “He’s a stellar athlete and a stellar academic. I just can’t say enough about him.”

Dover kept the game close all night with key contributions from senior Chase Little who led the team with 24 points. The Senators only trailed by three points at halftime despite a ten point first quarter from St. Georges’ junior Jayden Reid and a scoring mix of Reid and Obiora in the second.

“I was chasing it,” Reid said about his first half performance. “I was ready, I was running, hustling, getting offensive boards. Pretty sure I was in the middle of every play.”

Hawks’ sophomore Elijah Coates took control of the game at the start of the second half creating multiple steals and turning them into six points on the offensive end. 

Coates’ early scores put the Hawks ahead by seven, but the Senators responded forcing multiple turnovers that fueled their comeback. Dover scored eight of the final 12 points of the third quarter to cut the Hawks lead to four entering the final frame.

Little finished as the game’s leading scorer, knocking down 11 shots. King and senior JayVion Denis each contributed ten points to the Dover effort.

Reid finished the game with 16 points — all of which came in the first half. Davis and Coates combined for 25 points.  

Howard defeats William Penn, 52-45:

Howard junior Zi’Yon Henderson-Conkey played a little less than five minutes throughout the first half of the Wildcats’ semifinal game against the Colonials, but when senior Dominic Awahmukalah picked up his fourth foul with a little over six minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Henderson-Conkey was called back into action. 

The junior wing checked in with Howard clinging to a one-point lead and took full advantage of his opportunity.

Henderson-Conkey scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help Howard advance past the semifinal round for the first time in over a decade. 

“I don’t know it just came out of me, I just had to be that man,” Henderson-Conkey said postgame. “I just had to step up and it wasn’t really about the points, it was really about us going to the finals, you know, that’s what our main goal was.”

The first half of the game moved slowly with both teams struggling to get shots to fall. Neither team gave up much defensively and forced the opposition into tough layups or even tougher jump shots. The Colonials finished the first quarter down by one due to a long 3-point shot from sophomore Aaron Whitaker at the buzzer.

The time between Whitaker’s shot and the start of the second quarter lasted 22 minutes due to a power surge that caused a malfunction with the Bob Carpenter Center lights. Just seconds after Whitaker’s shot, the court went dark and the only lights on were those above the stands and the concourse. The teams’ went back to their locker rooms while event staff rushed around to fix the issue and play resumed at 8:43 p.m.

The Wildcats outscored the Colonials by eight points in the second quarter to go into halftime ahead by nine points. Senior Nicholas Baysah led the Wildcats with seven points at the break in addition to multiple assists. Baysah was a leader on the floor for head coach Rahsaan Matthews Sr., especially in a first half in which both offenses struggled. 

“I mean he’s a true point guard. So when I need him to score, he scores. When I need him to facilitate, he does that. He never looked worried or out of his composure,” Matthews said postgame.

The Colonials started the second half strong — scoring ten of the first 12 points of the third quarter — to reduce Howard’s lead down to one. Matthews called a timeout when the lead fell to a single point and the team responded with seven straight, returning their lead back to multiple possessions. 

William Penn finished the quarter scoring 17 points, and a step-back three from junior Chase Simmons sent the Colonials into the fourth quarter trailing by one score. 

That’s when Henderson-Conkey took over.

The junior scored in the lane, in the mid-range and at the free throw line and contributed on the defensive end with a block on a potential William Penn 3-pointer that would’ve cut Howard’s lead to three late in the quarter. Henderson-Conkey finished the game as Howard’s leading scorer with 13 points in addition to four rebounds.

“I expected him to play hard. I expected him to be a key contributor, because he’s stepped his game up this whole tournament,” Matthews said. “But for a guy like that to get that opportunity, we talk about embracing your opportunities. So it might be five minutes, it might be ten minutes, he took advantage of all 13 or 14 he had, and really was the key to us winning this game.”

Senior Mu’adh Ibn Jaabir-Johnson led the Colonials with a team-high 12 points. Junior Chase Simmons scored ten and Whitaker also finished the game with ten points for William Penn. Awahmukalah was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 11 points. 

The championship game between Howard and St. Georges will be on Saturday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m.