By Vincent Liu

After pulling off one of its greatest comeback victories less than two days earlier, the Pinewood School girls basketball team ran out of gas — and miracles — last Saturday afternoon at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

For the fourth consecutive year, third as a Division II team, the top-seeded Panthers’ dream of reaching the state final was shattered at the NorCal Division II title game. This time, it was at the hands of Vacaville High, which won 58-49.

The painful defeat underscored the old saying: You live by the sword, you die by the sword.

After slicing up its opponents all season with three-point shots, Pinewood fell on its own blade in the championship game. With the driving lanes clogged and their inside game stifled for much of the contest, the Panthers launched 41 shots from beyond the arc and missed 30 of them.

Pinewood’s anemic three-point percentage (26.8) might have been enough to beat a lesser opponent — like Amador Valley. That’s the team the Panthers beat 48-47 two days earlier by overcoming a 14-point deficit in the third quarter. Pinewood shot a dismal 23.5 percent (4 of 17) from three-point range but rode a tough defense down the stretch to stave off the fifth-seeded Dons. Amador Valley missed what would have been a game-tying free throw with 1.8 seconds left on the clock.

But against third-seeded Vacaville, Pinewood’s try for a second straight great escape ran into a 6-foot-3 stonewall in the person of the Bulldogs center Bernadette White. With a 4-inch height advantage over her counterpart, White had the size, strength and athleticism to shut off the inside power moves of the Panthers’ Katy Digovich.

Despite scoring a game-high 17 points, Digovich had to labor for her baskets and missed 12 of 18 shots. With a trio of guards who matched up well in quickness, Vacaville took away Pinewood’s drive-and-dish plays, resulting in only two assists by the Panthers for the entire game.

Down by three points at intermission, Pinewood went cold in the third quarter, going 0 for 10 from beyond the arc. Thanks to their defense led by Yasemin Kimyacioglu, the Panthers stayed within striking distance, trailing by six near the quarter’s end. Then came the game’s pivotal plays. Two straight put-backs off offensive rebounds by White stretched the Bulldogs’ lead to 10, from which the Panthers never recovered.

After hitting just 4-of-27 treys through three quarters, Pinewood regained its outside shooting touch in the last quarter, getting all its points from seven three-pointers. But it was too little too late. With forward Anna Tracy leading the way with three treys, the Panthers twice pulled within six but could get no closer. Forced to foul on every possession, they watched the Bulldogs sink 11 of 16 free throws down the stretch to close out the game.

With four three-pointers each, Kiely Schork and Tracy tied a NorCal final record for most treys by two players from one team. Schork and Tracy finished the game with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

With 11 more threes, the Panthers (25-5) stretched their state record to a total of 337, averaging some 11 per game. The total may also have broken the national record.

Fully aware of Pinewood’s normally deadly perimeter shooting, Bulldogs coach Bob Fernandez indicated in the post-game interview that he was ready to give up points in the post in order to defend against the threes. He got more than what he bargained for, as White made a genius out of him by playing what she called the defensive game of her life. She hit a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Calling Digovich the best post player she has faced this season, White was well prepared for her counterparts inside moves. She also noted that Digovich appeared tired. The same can be said for the entire Panthers team, which started the game flat and seemed to be missing its usual energetic bounce. The culprit may well be the previous game against Amador Valley which, according to team co-captain Stacie Roshon, took an emotional and physical toll on her and her teammates.

“That game took a lot out of us,” she said. “We worked so hard, and we put so much into this long season, and it all came down to one game.”

Pinewood’s coach Doc Scheppler, who appeared spent after the grinding semifinal victory over Amador Valley, was his gracious self after the latest disappointment at NorCal. “We were not getting easy baskets and that was the key today,” he said. “We could have been more patient (with our shots) and defense kept us in the game. Vacaville was terrific handling our pressure and deserved to win.”

Having experienced four-straight losses at the NorCal final, senior Roshon called the latest one the most disappointing. “Last year after we lost, we knew we would have another chance next year to play together and win it,” she said. “We just wanted to get over the hump, and it’s hard to realize it’s really over.”

Roshon is one of six graduating seniors, representing the core of this year’s team. With one junior and one sophomore returning next year plus several freshmen moving up from the junior-varsity squad, this season may well have been Pinewood’s last hurrah — at least for a while.