Casteel’s girls basketball team topped Rincon/University in the 5A quarterfinals matchup on Thursday night, 52-42. This win puts Casteel in the final four, which is the furthest a Colts basketball team has ever made it in the state tournament.

Casteel, which upset the No. 5 seed in the first round, will next face No. 1-seeded Millennium (25-4, 10-0) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Monday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Casteel (18-11, 7-3) came in as the No. 12 seed, just ahead of No. 13 Rincon. Head coaches from both squads said they were not surprised by Thursday's neck-and-neck battle.

“We knew that they were a good team, and kind of like us, they took some lumps early in the season but had been playing well lately,” Casteel coach Daniel Trageser said. “We definitely expected a tight back-and-forth game, which is what we got.”

After several ties and lead changes in the first half, Casteel led by just two at halftime.

The Colts were finally able to stretch their lead when sophomore Daeja Johnson went on a scoring spree in the third quarter. Johnson scored eight consecutive points within a couple of minutes by knocking down two 3-pointers and a layup.

“When one of us goes off it just brings the whole entire crowd into it, and to have that support really helps,” said Johnson, who finished with a team-high 22 points. “It doesn’t matter who scores, it’s just that somebody did it and somebody stepped up.”

Coach Trageser said his team prides themselves on having multiple scoring weapons with four girls averaging around eight points per game.

Casteel cashed eight 3-pointers on the night. Johnson had five and sophomore  Autymn Franks had two. Franks also added 12 points.

“Not getting out to the three-point shooter hurt us,” Rincon coach Darryl Carlson said. “And not capitalizing on some key shots that we probably could’ve had, but we threw the ball away instead.”

Despite the Rangers' season being over, Loraya Rocha had a solid offensive outing with a team-high 13 points and Cienna Crawford had 10.

As for Casteel, making it to the final four far exceeded their expectations.

“We weren’t even supposed to make it in the final 16 so for us to make it in the Final Four is like a dream,” Johnson said, smiling ear to ear. “This wasn’t even in our goals. We just wanted to get in the top eight.”

In his first year as head coach at Casteel, Trageser says he couldn’t be prouder of this team. They made a huge jump from 3A to 5A this year and have proved they belong.

“People don’t think that we should be here,” Trageser said, “but this team deserves to be here because of the work they put in every day.”