Pinewood School girls to play Pacific Hills Saturday in 2005 rematch

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

R. Alan Hwang/special to the town crier Pinewood School’s Sami Field-Polisso, above, drives to the basket last week in the NorCal opener against Forest Lake Christian.

The state Division V girls basketball championship game will feature the same teams as last year, and Pinewood School hopes the outcome is similar as well.

The Panthers will again face Pacific Hills, whom they routed 61-39 a year ago. The title game is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Pinewood comes in having won eight games in a row, the last two in impressive fashion. After opening the Northern California playoffs with a narrow win over No. 7 Forest Lake Christian, the second-seeded Panthers crushed No. 6 Ripon Valley Christian and No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep to get back to state.

Last Saturday’s NorCal title game was a rematch of the Central Coast Section Division V final, in which Pinewood edged Sacred Heart 37-34. This time, however, the Panthers pulled away early and claimed a 59-33 victory at Delta College in Stockton.

“Everybody played well,” Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler said of his team, which improved to 23-9. “They all did something to contribute. We really flowed well.”

The Panthers shook off a sluggish start - they were outscored 6-2 to open the game - to lead 12-8 after the initial quarter. Pinewood’s advantage grew to 32-21 by halftime, with Liz Altmaier draining a 3-pointer to end the second quarter.

“That was a big basket,” Scheppler said.

At the half, Scheppler stressed to his Panthers how important it was to open the third quarter with a bang - and they responded. Pinewood scored the first eight points and never looked back.

“They don’t have an offense that can come back from a 16- to 18-point deficit,” Scheppler said of Sacred Heart, which ends the season with a 15-17 record. “When we got up by that, we shrunk their possessions down by using at least 20 seconds of the shot clock and going to a full-court press on Stephens.”

That would be Gators’ point guard Hannah Stephens. The press hindered the sophomore standout, who was forced to expend more time and energy to set up the offense. She finished with just eight points and no assists.

“Hannah (Lippe) and Grace (Beck) did a good job,” Scheppler said of the two players who took turns guarding Stephens. “They hounded her.”

Pinewood took a 43-27 lead into the final quarter and continued to make shots. The Panthers closed the game with a 16-6 run.

For the game, Pinewood shot 45 percent from the field (18 of 40) and 46.6 from 3-point range (7 of 15). The Panthers also converted 16 of their 18 free throws.

“We just hit shots,” said Scheppler, whose team shot a mere 21.1 percent against the Gators in the March 4 CCS final. “We ran plays better this time and were more prepared for their personnel.”

Pinewood held Sacred Heart to 24.2 percent shooting (8 of 33) Saturday and allowed only Kim Culpan to reach double-digit points (14).

The Panthers had three players score in double figures, led by Sami Field-Polisso’s 16 points. The junior point guard also recorded six assists.

“Sami was awesome, just awesome,” Scheppler said. “Every one of her shots was big and she did a terrific job running the team.”

Guard Tika Koshiyama-Diaz came off the bench to add 11 points in 13 minutes. The junior, who missed the regular season with a knee injury, was playing just her sixth game of the year.

“She’s not near 100 percent,” Scheppler said, “but even at 50 percent she serves a purpose on this team.”

Center Aly Geppert contributed 10 points. The coach said the sophomore - who also had 10 rebounds and two blocked shot - “did a great job.”

Scheppler also praised freshman post player Lindsay Nickel: “She scored six points off the bench and hit some very big buckets to get us going.”

Two days earlier against Rincon Valley, the Panthers got going early and often. Scheppler said Pinewood played its best game of the season in beating the Eagles 81-42.

The host Panthers made 33 of their 58 field-goal attempts (56.9 percent), including an 11-of-26 effort on treys (42.3 percent).

Altmaier led the way with 24 points. She knocked down six 3-pointers, including a pair in the third quarter when Pinewood outscored the Eagles 26-13.

Rincon Valley (30-4) of Santa Rosa didn’t have the energy or athleticism to match the Panthers.

“They have a couple of quality players and we did a nice job neutralizing them,” said Scheppler, whose team led 42-18 at halftime. “We got good, open, clean looks for our shooters.”

Pinewood opened the game with a backdoor play that freed Lippe for a layin 12 seconds in. It ignited a 9-2 run that included a 3-pointer by Altmaier, a putback by Geppert and a drive by Field-Polisso.

Geppert finished with 16 points, Field-Polisso 12 and Lippe nine. Pinewood had nine players score in all.

The Panthers opened the NorCal playoffs with a 48-41 home win over No. 7 Forest Lake Christian (23-8) March 7. Field- Polisso scored 13 points to lead Pinewood.

The Panthers enter Saturday’s game seeking their third state crown in seven years. Pacific Hills of West Hollywood, the top seed in the Southern California bracket, advanced to state by beating No. 2 Mission Prep 62-50 last weekend in Fullerton.

Pacific Hills comes in with a 30-2 record. The Bruins graduated more key players than Pinewood last year, but they have added three freshmen who can score, according to Scheppler.