Freshman Sophia Bowles hit seven three-pointers to help the Pinewood girls basketball team breeze past Notre Dame Belmont 68-30 Thursday.
Pinewood (17-2) dominated Notre Dame Belmont (14-3) thanks to a flurry of three-pointers and defensive pressure to force turnovers, with Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler praising the young team with four new starters for continuing to grow in his system and progress as it readies itself for the CCS playoffs.
“We are in that learning stage, but we are in the process of getting better,” Scheppler said. “So I look at it as a really high ceiling.”
Bowles had 25 points for the game, with 20 points in the first half, as Pinewood went from a close 15-9 lead in the first quarter to a 37-16 lead at halftime.
“She loves the game, wants to be great, she’s so coachable, and the thing with those kids, you have to remember that they are 14-year-olds playing high school basketball,” Scheppler said. “This time last year, they were sitting up in the stands watching us play, and now they are playing.”
The scoring continued a 15-0 run to start the third quarter, and the game had a running clock near the end of the fourth quarter. Senior guard Caitlyn Kramer had a triple-double with 10 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists and praised the team for the way it played Thursday.
“A lot of people stepped up today in ways that we needed them to,” Kramer said. “We have a freshman hitting seven threes, that’s always really nice. We were running our lanes really well on offense, and I think that’s the way we really want to play for the rest of the season, so building off of that.”
Pinewood has had a rotation approach to scoring this season, with several younger players stepping up to have big games. While Bowles led the team against Notre Dame Belmont, it was freshman Alex Tseng who hit several three pointers to win against Harker Jan. 27. The team has four new starters this year, with Kramer the only returning starter, while sophomore Abigail Yew and senior Andri Wilkinson got rotational minutes last year. The team has only three bench players for the rest of the season due to injuries.
Bigger tests remain as Pinewood will travel to take on Priory Friday, Feb. 6, in a battle with major league title implications in the West Bay Foothill Division and Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs. Visiting Priory beat Pinewood Jan. 16, 40-39 thanks to late free throws in the last minute of a close game to stay undefeated in league play at 6-0, while Pinewood is 5-1 in league play. Notre Dame Belmont is 3-3 in league play and in third place.
