SANTA CLARA — Archbishop Mitty and Pinewood played a terrific first half Friday night in the Central Coast Section Open Division girls basketball final, just as they did in the title game last season.
But this time Pinewood did not go away.
The Panthers pushed talented and incredibly deep Mitty until the final minute, but the top-seeded Monarchs ultimately survived, claiming the championship 65-57 at Santa Clara University’s Leavey Center.
Madeline Holland scored 23 points and Haley Jones had 17 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks to lead Mitty, the state’s top-ranked team.
“That was just a team win,” Holland said. “Everyone contributed.”
Pinewood had three players score in double figures — led by Mikaela Topper’s 17 — on a night when its point guard, Brianna Claros, could not play because of a concussion suffered in a semifinal win Tuesday against Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Both coaches said Claros’ absence was big for Pinewood.
“Major,” said Mitty coach Sue Phillips, whose program won its 26th section crown, including 19 with her in charge. “She handles a majority of their ball-handling duties for the year. There’s no doubt she would have given them added production, both from an assist and scoring standpoint and just from a depth standpoint.”
After a first half in which the lead changed hands a dozen times, Mitty (25-2) threatened to put away the game a few times in the second half.
But Pinewood (24-3) simply would not go away.
It trimmed the margin to four and had Topper at the free-throw line with 34.2 seconds left with a chance to cut it to two.
Both foul shots missed.
Given how his team faded in the final against Mitty last season, Scheppler was encouraged after the loss.
“I feel better about this game because we played with fatigue a lot better,” he said. “I thought we had two or three bad stretches where we just didn’t have flow or continuity. Then after a while, the girls made adjustments and we got in that stage where they had nothing to lose. We hit some threes. We got back in it, down four with two free throws, 30 seconds to go.”
Mitty’s depth obviously played a factor in Pinewood’s rough stretches as Phillips, as usual, kept rotating waves of tall and athletic players in and out of the game.
“I think they made some uncharacteristic turnovers in their system and missed some shots that quite frankly I have seen them make time and time again,” Phillips said. “So I do think our depth and full-court pressure got to them. But I also think they did a great job. They were physical. They clogged the lane.”
Pinewood also had the rebound edge, 33-28, an edge that didn’t sit well with Phillips, who said that will be a point of emphasis when the team practices Saturday.
Mitty led 16-15 after one quarter and a late surge near the end of the half widened the advantage to 34-29.
Pinewood got to within 37-36 but could not reclaim the lead.
When the NorCal pairings are announced Sunday, Mitty is a shoo-in to receive the top seed in the Open Division.
Pinewood doesn’t figure to be far behind, given its record and the fact it was only four points behind Mitty in the final minute on a night it was shorthanded.
“I am hoping for a top-four seed,” Scheppler said. “I am hoping for three or four. They should look at us and go, ‘To play Mitty tough without their point guard, that’s pretty good.’ I am very pleased. We’ll play wherever they want us to play. Hopefully we’ll get a home game and go from there.”