Shaking off last week’s lopsided loss to Mitty in the Central Coast Section Open Division girls basketball final, the Pinewood School Panthers pummeled St. Mary’s 79-47 to open the Northern California playoffs Wednesday (Feb. 27).
Down 6-4 three minutes into the NorCal Open Division quarterfinal, third-seeded Pinewood closed the quarter with a 15-6 run that visiting No. 6 St. Mary’s of Stockton never recovered from. Kaitlyn Leung poured in nine of her game-high 23 points during the spurt, including a 3-pointer from the right corner.
“Kaitlyn was fabulous today,” Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler said. “What a game to end your home, senior-year career.”
The Panthers (25-3 overall) pushed the lead to 42-19 by halftime, thanks to a sensational second quarter. They shot 9-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Courtni Thompson accounted for one of those 3s and scored seven of her 17 points in the period. Leung hit a 3 as well, along with a drive with one second left in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Rams (22-9) didn’t score from anywhere but the foul line. They missed all nine of their field-goal attempts and committed four turnovers in the second.
Hannah Jump buried back-to-backs 3s early in third quarter, providing Pinewood with a 48-24 advantage. The senior totaled 20 points.
The lead ballooned to 69-38 midway through the fourth on Leung’s left-side 3, set up by Klara Astrom’s drive-and-dish pass. Leung finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Did she expect to have such a big game?
“Actually, I did not,” Leung said. “At first, I had the wrong match up and that just frazzled me, but I just dismissed that, got my person, played solid D and made some shots.”
For the game, Pinewood shot a sizzling 12-of-26 on 3s (46 percent).
“That was a great game by us,” Scheppler said. “I’m so proud of our girls.”
The win propelled the Panthers into Saturday’s semifinals; they are scheduled to visit No. 2 Carondelet (26-4) at 6 p.m. The Cougars topped visiting Pinewood 67-59 Jan. 9, a game in which the Panthers were 3-of-22 from distance.
Saturday’s winner advances to the NorCal final to face top-seeded Mitty (25-2 ) or No. 4 Salesian (24-8) Tuesday night. Both teams beat the Panthers this season; Mitty routed them 72-51 in the CCS title game Feb. 22.
