By Pete Borello

The possibility of a championship showdown pitting one local girls basketball power against another has moved closer to reality.

By capturing quarterfinal games last weekend in San Jose, Pinewood School and St. Francis High are each a win a way from playing in Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division II final at Santa Clara University (6 p.m.).

Pinewood advanced to today’s semifinals by routing North Salinas 67-23 last Saturday; St. Francis moved on with a 52-43 victory over Menlo-Atherton.

Top-seeded Pinewood put No. 8 North Salinas away early, building an overwhelming 32-13 lead by intermission. The Panthers’ normally hot three-point shooting was luke warm (10 of 39), but they made up for that with stifling defense.

“Our ability to force turnovers and disrupt their offense was crucial,” said Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler, whose team made 24 steals.”Defense is what wins playoff games.”

Offensively, center Katy Digovich led the Panthers with 19 points (she had 30 in a first-round rout of Alisal Thursday). Anna Tracy added 13 points.

Pinewood (21-4) faces No. 5 Aragon (22-6) at 8 p.m., today at Mount Pleasant High (San Jose).

Third-seeded St. Francis plays prior to that game, meeting No. 2 Soquel (24-4) at 6 p.m.

The Lancers (17-12) qualified for the semis by fending off a feisty Menlo-Atherton team. St. Francis led No. 6 M-A 24-17 at the half and entered the final quarter up eight.

Ellen Porshneva paced St. Francis with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

“She consistently scored baskets as the game went on,” St. Francis coach Mike DeCarlo said of his senior standout. “She did a lot of the hard work — including rebounding.”

Meghan Plunkett and Jennifer Bow added eight points each.

Spartans get educated

Last week’s CCS Division III playoff opener wasn’t a total loss for Mountain View.

Although top-seeded Presentation doubled up on the 16th-seeded Spartans, 66-33, coach Paul Romig viewed the Feb. 26 game as a learning experience.

“I was pleased with what we were able to get out of it,” Mountain View’s first-year coach said. “The players clearly got to see the difference between what we were and what the No. 1 seed is.”

Romig hopes Mountain View eventually will be a No. 1 seed, but conceded the Spartans have some work to do to get there.

“We have talent,” he said, “and now we need commitment to get to that level.”

The visiting Spartans (12-15) played with Presentation for nearly a quarter, then the more-experienced Panthers went on a 9-2 run to close out the period. Presentation (22-7) carried this momentum into the next quarter, going on a 20-6 spurt to pull away by halftime.

“It was hard for us to get easy baskets,” Romig said. “Our defense was fine, it was just hard for us to score.”

Peyton Paulick and Rachel Deshong finished with eight points each to lead Mountain View; Michelle Peng had seven.

Mustangs stumble

Ninth-seeded Homestead overcame a first-half deficit, but couldn’t do it again in the second half of its CCS Division II opener at North Salinas. which prevailed 48-39 last Thursday.

The Mustangs, down six after the first quarter, rallied to take a 25-20 lead at the half. Homestead (19-7) extended its advantage to nine in the opening minutes of the third quarter, then watched North Salinas (18-8) go on a devastating 16-0 run.

“Turnovers hurt us in the third quarter,” said Mustangs coach Judy Auclair, who estimated that her team turned the ball over seven times in the period. “We made some pretty poor passes.”

Homestead regrouped in the fourth, pulling within four points with just under a minute to play. North Salinas, led by 6-foot-3 center Monica Abbott, then made its free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Jenelle Kitasoe and fellow junior Mandy Wald paced the Mustangs with 14 points each. Joanna Harris and Shelly Baxter added six points apiece.

Homestead, co-champion of the SCVAL El Camino Division, will graduate to the more competitive SCVAL De Anza Division next season.