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Not much went right Friday for Pinewood as Mitty dominated virtually all aspects of the game and pulled away for a 72-51 victory in the Central Coast Section Open Division girls basketball championship game at Santa Clara University.
It was the fourth consecutive year that Mitty beat Pinewood in the CCS Open final.
“It’s really disappointing,’’ Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler said. “But these are high school kids. They’re not perfect. They’re not robots.’’
Pinewood (24-3) will find out Sunday who it will play in the NorCal playoffs. NorCal Open Division play begins Wednesday, Divisions I-V on Tuesday.
The Panthers got off to a bad start against Mitty (25-2) and never recovered. They shot a miserable 19 percent in the first quarter (3 of 16) and trailed 19-9 at the end of the quarter.
“We were nervous a little bit,’’ Scheppler said. “We had trouble finishing plays.’’
Mitty, the bigger team at all five positions, pounded Pinewood on the boards, particularly in the first half which ended with Mitty having a 28-12 rebound advantage.
“They killed us on the boards,’’ Scheppler said. “They got a lot of easy baskets. We have to earn them with skill. They go on runs with their offensive rebounds and hustle plays.’’
Pinewood’s two leading scorers, Hannah Jump and Klara Astrom, who combined for 47 in a semifinal win over Valley Christian and average a combined 34 on the season, were ineffective against Mitty. Jump managed only six points and Astrom, who was plagued by foul trouble much like in last year’s CCS final, finished with nine points.
Sophomore Courtni Thompson was the one bright spot in Pinewood’s offense. She scored 13 of the team’s 21 in the first half and finished with 18 points, knocking down four of Pinewood’s six 3-pointers. Kaitlyn Leung and Annika Decker made one 3-pointer each as Jump (who had 85 3-pointers on the season) and Astrom (who had 71) were shut out from behind the arc.
“We wanted to take away their 3-pointer,’’ Mitty coach Sue Phillips said.
Despite their shooting woes and rebound disparity, the Panthers trailed only 30-21 at halftime and 43-30 after three quarters. And they finally started making some shots in the beginning of the fourth quarter, scoring on their first five possessions. But the stops on the defensive end that were needed to make a comeback were not forthcoming. Mitty scored on its first eight possessions of the fourth quarter, extending its lead to 61-44.
‘Defensively we had a lot of breakdowns,’’ Scheppler said. “Being in foul trouble had something to do with that. Klara had four and Trinity (Copeland) had four. It made us tentative guarding people like that.’’
Mitty star Haley Jones, who will play with Jump at Stanford, scored 26 points and had nine rebounds. Hunter Hernandez scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds.