If Oak Ridge is to make it to the state championship game, they will have to get by top-seeded Berkeley on Saturday at Arco Arena.

The Lady Trojans, 30-3 on the year, enter the game with three more wins than the Yellowjackets, who are 27-3. If they have any advantage over Berkeley, it’s with experience. Not only did the Lady Trojans play in the Division II Northern California Championship a year ago, while Berkeley lost in the second round of the playoffs, but they’ve got four seniors who play major minutes in Sara James, Caitlin Welsch, Kelsi Danciart and Megan Griswold. Berkeley only has one senior on their roster and that’s 6-foot, 1-inch post player Taylor Wallace.

“We have some experience but their program as a whole has tradition,” Oak Ridge coach Steve White said. “They’ve played in this game a few times in the last 10 years. I’m hoping the experience of our seniors and the team being in this game last year will help.”

Oak Ridge also has the advantage of playing in Arco Arena just two weeks prior to Saturday’s game, when they defeated Kennedy to win the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title.

Berkeley is obviously a solid team to get to this point in the season. The Yellowjackets crushed Deer Valley, 62-42, to win the North Coast Section title and then got by Sacramento stalwarts McClatchy, 69-56, and Kennedy, 52-47, to reach the championship game.

As of Sunday afternoon, White didn’t have much information on Berkeley, but planned on watching game film at a later time.

“They’re similar to Deer Valley in that they’ve got quick guards and are very athletic,” White said. “They like to apply a lot of pressure defensively and have a good guard named (Brittany) Boyd. I think we’re going to see a better version of what we just saw against Deer Valley.”

White said the key to the game would be similar to the keys to the win over Deer Valley.

“We’re going to have to play with composure and patience, stay focused, take care of the ball and rebound,” White said.