Pinewood takes it to the basket to beat Sacred Heart in CCS final
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
Pinewood School’s Liz Altmaier drives to the basket against Sacred Heart Prep’s Jessica Pecota in last Saturday’s Central Coast Section Division V final at Santa Clara High. The Panthers went on to win 62-42, and Altmaier led all scorers with 19 points. Pecota, a Los Altos resident topped the Gators with 10 points. |
Throw out the notion that the Pinewood School girls basketball team lives and dies on three-point shots. In this year’s run to the Central Coast Section title, the Panthers proved they have the drive to survive.
The threes didn’t fall, but the drives to the basket did last Saturday in a 62-42 win over Sacred Heart Prep in the CCS Division V final at Santa Clara High. Top seed Pinewood made up for its 4-of-15 effort on treys (26.7 percent) by scoring about one-third of its points on drives resulting in either layins or free throws.
The Panthers’ penchant for shooting threes no doubt concerned the second-seeded Gators, who made it their mission to defend the perimeter shot.
“We knew exactly how they were going to play us,” said coach Doc Scheppler, who guided Pinewood to its eighth consecutive CCS crown.
Sacred Heart’s strategy left the middle vulnerable, and the Panthers (22-5) repeatedly found themselves in one-on-one situations when going to the hoop.
“It was weird not having any help there,” Pinewood point guard Daniela Roark said.
This was especially true in the third quarter, when the Panthers went on a 25-9 run to put the game away. Up only 27-21 at the half, Pinewood scored 12 of its third-quarter points from within the paint. Four of these points came from guard Tika Koshiyama-Diaz, who made the Gators look silly on two layups.
Roark tallied nine of her 11 points in the period, highlighted by a spinning mid-range jumper in the closing minute as the shot clock expired. Next came a pair of free throws by guard Sami Field-Polisso with a second left to cap an 11-0 run. This gave Pinewood an overwhelming 52-30 lead going into the fourth.
While the second half clearly belonged to the Panthers, Sacred Heart (18-13) made things interesting in the first half. The Gators scored eight unanswered points in the second quarter to pull within 18-17 with 3:35 left. That’s as close as they would get.
Neither team shot well in the first half, with only Liz Altmaier showing any kind of consistency for Pinewood. The junior wing scored her team’s first seven points - starting with a three-pointer - and had 14 by halftime. Altmaier finished with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds, nearly doubling her season average in both categories.
“Liz had a great start and she played with confidence,” Scheppler said. “She played a beautiful game.”
It was hard to find any beauty in the Gators’ field-goal shooting. They followed a 1-for-10 first quarter with a 3-for-12 second. Only free throws (13 of 17) kept them close in the first half.
Sacred Heart’s shooting woes carried into the second half. In contrast to the Gators’ defense, the Panthers dared their opponent to fire from the perimeter.
“We knew them as a team that likes to drive and we gave them threes,” senior Roark said. “If they beat us, it was going to be from the outside.”
Sacred Heart made just two of its 10 three-point attempts in the game and shot only 23.4 percent from the field (11 of 47). Jessica Pecota, a Los Altos resident, led the Gators with 10 points.
Pinewood was 20 of 45 from the field (44.4 percent). Koshiyama-Diaz made all four of her shots and totaled nine points. Fellow sophomore Field-Polisso also scored nine, while freshman post Aly Geppert added 10.
Geppert poured in 24 points in the March 1 semifinal game, a 78-36 rout of No. 4 Castilleja. The Panthers made six three-pointers in the contest, scoring many of their points the way they did against Sacred Heart.
It’s on to the Northern California playoffs for the Panthers, seeded third in Division V. Pinewood was set to host No. 3 South Fork (27-5) last Tuesday after the Town Crier went to press.
The winner either travels to No. 2 Branson (27-6) or hosts No. 7 Sacramento Waldorph (25-6) at 7 p.m., Thursday, for the right to play in Saturday’s NorCal final in Stockton. Pinewood lost in the NorCal semifinals last year after reaching the NorCal final the previous three seasons.
