by Alex Valdes
It all seems to fall upon Renee Robinson's husky shoulders--questions from the media, responsibility for the team, enormous expectations from everyone. Sacred Heart Prep's senior point guard has experienced it all in her four years as floor leader of the Bay Area's best girls team, and perhaps this has been her toughest season. She suffered an injury in the season opener, and the Gators lost six of 13 games in her absence (one of those losses was later reversed when the opposing team had to forfeit).
Robinson also has had to carry the offensive burden, after the graduation of posts Jenny Circle and Kobie Kennon and the transfer of three-point shooter Kacey Scheppler to Pinewood. That meant less dishing off, more shooting--and more slumps.
She had another difficult assignment in Friday's 70-44 victory over Pinewood in the Central Coast Section Division V championship at the San Jose State Event Center, but accomplished it well. Charged with guarding Scheppler, who entered the game with 101 treys, she held the sophomore to two threes (on seven attempts), five total field goals (on 14 attempts) and 14 points.
Robinson also had to revive herself and her teammates offensively after halftime, at which point Robinson had only four points and the Gators led by only 30-26.
But in the third quarter, she scored eight points and dished out two assists, helping the Gators reel off a 13-0 run and outscore Pinewood by 23-7 in the quarter to take a 53-33 lead.
"In the first half, I got caught up in the crowd and I wasn't playing my game," said Robinson, who finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. "I just did what I had to do to make the leap and never look back."
The win thrust Robinson and Sacred Heart Prep (24-8) into the next phase, the quest for a fourth consecutive state title. It began with Tuesday's Northern California playoff opener against visiting Mercy of Red Bluff.
With state crown No. 4, Robinson would join Brea-Olinda's Nicole Erickson (1991-94) and Point Loma's Terry Mann (1984-87) as the only players in California to play on four consecutive state champions.
Robinson will have plenty of help, especially from Gator guards Trisha Felts, Dawn Desautels and Juliana Smith.
All three were pivotal against Pinewood (27-3). Felts made five of eight three-point field goal attempts, scoring 19 points, and hauled in seven rebounds and also applied good defensive pressure on freshman point guard Lauren Smith-Hams. Desautels had 11 points, making three of nine trey attempts, and Smith had 14 rebounds and 12 points, eight in the third quarter.
Scheppler and Smith-Hams surely will be back for another CCS title shot, which will be necessary to erase Friday's misery. Both started out well, combining for 16 points in the first half, but they had only five in the third quarter.
Smith-Hams forced many shots instead of looking to pass and made seven of a whopping 27 shots, finishing with 19 points.
"You don't win big games with only two players," said Sacred Heart coach Mike Ciardella.
Back up to the Table of Contents Page