December 30, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

They're a work in progress

by Keith Peters

Both basketball teams have modest winning streaks and have combined for only three losses heading into games last night, but the Pinewood girls and Palo Alto boys still have plenty of room to improve.

As Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler said: "We're a work in progress."

The defending state champion Panthers and the 2005 NorCal runnerup Vikings both have the personnel and talent to reach last season's level of play. Yet, both need to be more consistent and eliminate some potentially disastrous flaws in their plays.

On Wednesday, Pinewood (8-2) overcame its worst defensive effort of the season as sophomore center Aly Geppert scored a career-high 29 points in a 69-59 win over Davis in the semifinals of the Mitty New Year's Classic. The Panthers met host Mitty last night in the finals.

A few hours after Pinewood advanced, Palo Alto (11-1) overcame an uncharacteristic 24 turnovers to turn back University (Irvine), 55-36, in the opening round of the St. Francis Holiday Basketball Tournament.

Paly played San Ramon Valley in the semifinals on Thursday night, with a victory earning the Vikings a shot at the St. Francis-Oak Grove winner in tonight's championship game at 7:45 p.m.

"We probably average 10 turnovers a game," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock. "We had 24. Jeremy (Lin) had nine. He's never had nine turnovers before."

The Vikings, however, overcame that ugly statistic and a sub-par shooting performance by senior marksman Steven Brown, who scored just five points. Moreover, Paly overcame an early 14-11 deficit with an 18-0 run in the second quarter that saw the visitors from Orange County go scoreless for nearly five minutes.

The Vikings stretched their lead to 23 points by the end of the third quarter (46-23) and coasted from there.

"It's a work in progress," Diepenbrock said. "I thought it was a step in the right direction."

Palo Alto concentrated on its halfcourt game and Diepenbrock was fairly pleased with the outcome. He was also happy with senior Cooper Miller's 10 steals (to go with his 13 points) and senior Kheaton Scott's fine all-around game that included eight points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Lin overcame his turnovers with a game-high 18 points, scoring seven early in the third quarter to boost the Vikings' lead to 42-21. Senior Brad Lehman also was solid with 11 points.

Diepenbrock said his team's effort provided a preview of what might be ahead once the Vikings put it all together.

Scheppler is awaiting the same from his team.

"We haven't really put a game together where for 32 minutes we have it going at both ends of the floor," he said.

Pinewood has had solid offensive efforts and defensive performances, but has yet to have everyone on the same page at the same time.

Wednesday's outing was a good example.

"I felt it was our worst defensive performance of the season," Scheppler said. "We didn't have an answer for what they were doing. We didn't box out well. We didn't locate well."

Nor did Pinewood handle the pressure Davis applied when the Lady Blue Devils pressed full court. In addition, junior guard Sami Field-Polisso made only one of 14 field-goal attempts.

"Fortunately," Scheppler said, "we've been able to overcome bad games by our main players."

With Field-Polisso struggling offensively, the 6-foot-2 Geppert took over and scored 17 points in the first half as Pinewood rallied from a 21-16 deficit in the first quarter to take a 38-33 halftime lead. A 15-0 run by the Panthers sparked that turnaround.

When Davis rallied to make it a 48-47 game after three periods, the Panthers went back to Geppert on the low post. She scored 10 points in the final quarter, including eight straight to give Pinewood a 64-56 lead with under a minute to play. Seniors Hannah Lippe (seven points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Liz Altmaier (17 points) were chiefly responsible for making nice entry passes to Geppert.

"I was pleased with how we played in the fourth quarter, because they've been a struggle for us," Scheppler said.

Scheppler said he's hoping to use the championship game against Mitty as a springboard for games coming up, while continuing to work on getting more consistency from his players.

Pinewood opened the Mitty tournament with a 48-28 win over Chino in a game that saw the Panthers play very well on defense and Field-Polisso score a game-high 18 points.

In other girls' basketball action Wednesday:

Palo Alto (10-3) opened play in the Topaz Division of the West Coast Jamboree with a 50-29 romp over Richmond at Ygnacio Valley High. The Vikings had nine players score in a balanced effort that was led by 10 points from freshman Rachael Pecota.

Sacred Heart Prep (3-4) failed to score in double digits in any quarter and suffered a 34-24 loss to Urban (San Francisco) in the second round of the Head Royce Roundball Classic in Oakland. Sophomore Hannah Stephens scored 10 points to lead the Gators after producing 17 points 10 steals and 10 assists in a 73-11 first-round win over St. Elizabeth.

SHP junior Jenesa Jones added 19 points and seven steals while junior Kim Culpan contributed 17 points. The Gators had 26 steals and made a season-best 17 of 25 free throws in Tuesday's win.

At the Newark Memorial Invitational, Menlo-Atherton (9-2) scored just three points in the opening quarter and a late rally by the Bears came up short in a 47-41 loss to Monte Vista (Danville). Ann Sbardellati led M-A with 11 points.

In other boys' basketball action"

Eastside Prep (7-9) bounced back from a 64-32 loss to Head Royce on Tuesday to beat Thatcher (Ojai), 37-29, on Wednesday in the second round of the Head Royce Roundball Classic.

Sacred Heart Prep (4-2) reversed that start, opening with a 67-40 triumph over St. Bernard's (Eureka) behind Eric Cowell's 17 points and nine rebounds. The Gators then fell to International, 56-54, in the second round.

At the Sand Dune Classic in San Francisco, Menlo-Atherton (6-5) played St. Joseph of Alameda evenly for three quarters before a shooting slump over the final three minutes cost the Bears a 61-56 loss in the opening round. Tyronn Pettis led the Bears with 17 points and Gorjan Hrustanovic added 13.

In nonleague play, Mid-Peninsula (8-3) got 14 points from Jamar Williams to help shut down visiting Pinewood, 38-24, Wednesday.

"We hadn't played for a while," said Mid-Pen coach Curtis Haggins. "We got off to a slow start but our defense created some turnovers in the second quarter. We threw some different defenses at them in the second half and their guards didn't respond very well."

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