Panthers edge SHP in CCS title game
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 photos by R. Alan Hwang/Special to the Town Crier Pinewood players, including forward Hannah Lippe (center), celebrate after winning Saturday’s CCS final over Sacred Heart Prep. |
Someone probably told you there would be games like this.
A game in which your team struggles to put the ball in the basket or even hold on to it. A day when the airballs outnumber the 3-pointers and the turnover total is three times that of the assists.
Except such a performance is usually cause for consolation - not celebration, like it was for Pinewood School on Saturday. The top-seeded Panthers survived to beat No. 3 Sacred Heart Prep 37-34 in the Central Coast Section Division V girls basketball final at Santa Clara University’s Leavey Center.
“Good teams win games like that - they win ugly,” coach Doc Scheppler said after guiding Pinewood to its ninth consecutive CCS crown, “and it couldn’t get much uglier than that.”
The Panthers shot 21.1 percent from the field, made just one of their 12 shots from 3-point range and committed 21 turnovers.
The only shots that fell with regularity for Pinewood came from the foul line and from post player Aly Geppert.
The Panthers made 20 of their 26 free throws, including a 7-of-10 effort in the final quarter.
The 6-foot-2 Geppert scored a game-high 14 points and made Pinewood’s lone field goal of the fourth. And it was a big one.
The Panthers were clinging to a one-point lead when Geppert followed up Hannah Lippe’s 3-point try, getting fouled just before the ball spun around the rim and dropped in.
“I was praying, ‘Please go in - give me a roll just this once,’” Geppert said.
The sophomore knocked down the free throw as well, boosting Pinewood’s lead to 34-30 with 1:03 remaining.
But it was soon a one-point game again, as guard Hannah Stephens nailed a 3-pointer on the Gators’ next possession.
After pressuring the ball with no luck, Sacred Heart fouled Pinewood with the shot clock winding down. Forward Liz Altmaier stepped to the line with 21.7 seconds left and calmly hit both free throws to make it a 36-33 game.
Sacred Heart’s Adrianna Vogt split a pair of free throws, then Geppert did the same after being intentionally fouled with 7.4 seconds to play.
This left the Gators needing a 3-pointer to tie. But they didn’t get much of a chance at it, with Stephens having to settle for a shot well above the arc as time expired. It drew nothing but air.
“We had some inexperience out there and we got jumbled up,” Sacred Heart coach Charlene Murphy said.
Relief then joy spread among the Panthers, who move on to the Northern California playoffs.
“Winning a game like that says a lot about the character of this team,” Scheppler said. “We can still pull out a win when it gets dicey.”
The game started well enough for Pinewood (20-8). The Panthers scored the first seven points, including a 3-pointer by Altmaier. She finished with eight points.
The Gators (13-16) responded with a spurt of their own. Helped by six Pinewood turnovers, they went on a 14-2 run to end the quarter.
The Panthers mustered just one field goal in the second quarter - an inside shot by forward Lippe in the final minute - but went 8-for-8 from the foul line. They trailed 20-19 at the half.
Pinewood continued to attack the basket in the third quarter, starting with six straight points. Geppert made back-to-back shots in the paint and tallied seven points in the quarter, which ended with her team up 28-26.
Geppert found herself in one-on-one situations most of the game, as the Gators focused their attention on the Panthers’ usually reliable perimeter shooters.
“With a 3-point shooting team, you have to give up something,” Murphy said, “and they figured it out.”
Geppert also had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Pinewood opened the NorCal playoffs Tuesday at home against Forest Lake Christian. With a win, the second-seeded Panthers host a 7 p.m. game Thursday.
