OPEN STUNNER
Pinewood girls upset Mitty, nation’s No. 1
SANTA CLARA >> In front of an electric crowd, Pinewood knocked off previously unbeaten Archbishop Mitty, the consensus No. 1 girls basketball team in the nation, 78-67 in triple overtime Saturday night at Santa Clara’s Leavey Center.
“People were there to witness it, we won a lot of hearts today,” said Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler, who’s led his team to six Division V state titles. “I mean, the basketball gods like how we play.”
The third-seeded Panthers (27-2) advanced to next week’s CIF state Open Division championship game in Sacramento.
They will face Windward (26-3) of Los Angeles, coached by former Stanford guard Vanessa Nygaard.
The Monarchs (29-1), who beat Pinewood 76-62 to claim the Central Coast Section title, led 39-23 near the midway mark of the third quarter.
But Five-Star recruit Haley Jones, a 6-foot-1 junior, picked up her fourth foul with 3:34 left and went to the bench.
“It was disappointing to feel like I let my team down by not being there to pick them up,” said Jones, who fouled out with 1:31 left in the game after accumulating 17 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Sparking the comeback for Pinewood was junior Hannah Jump, a Stanford verbal commit who went 6 of 11 from beyond the arc for a game-high 24 points.
“We always try to tell her that she’s the best shooter in America — next one’s always in — and tonight she proved it,” Scheppler said.
Jump played all 44 minutes, same as Pinewood point guard Brianna Claros.