Mitty takes control in CCS title game
On a team brimming with standouts, in a game filled with history, Mitty’s old reliable came through in the clutch.
St. Mary’s-bound Maddy Holland, a four-year starter, scored a game-high 23 points to lift the Monarchs, ranked sixth nationally, to a 65-57 Central Coast Section Open Division championship win over Pinewood-Los Altos Hills on Friday at Santa Clara University.
Sophomore Haley Jones had 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals and Daniella Guglielmo added 12 points for top-seeded Mitty (25-2), which won its 26th section title and 19th under coach Sue Phillips.
“Maddy is solid,” Phillips said. “She’s been a clutch player for us and she was nails tonight.”
Second-seeded Pinewood (24-3) was playing without point guard Briana Claros (concussion), yet it gave Mitty all it could handle, cutting a 59-47 early fourth-quarter deficit to 61-57 with just over a minute left before fading in the final moments.
The Panthers got 17 points from Mikaela Topper, 15 from Klara Astrom and 12 from Akayla Hackson.
“Mitty is so good and well coached and to play them this close without our point guard has me very pleased with our effort but not the result,” Pinewood Coach Doc Scheppler said.
The first half was a backand-forth affair that had 12 lead changes and three ties and ended on a long threepointer by Guglielmo that gave Mitty a 34-29 lead after two quarters.
From there, however, Mitty never trailed.
“It was really tough to pull away from them,” Holland said. “We had to play tough defense and not bail them out, and that’s what we did in the second half.”
Mitty will likely be the top seed in the Northern California Regional Open Division when the seedings are announced by the CIF on Sunday. NORTH COAST SECTION
Carondelet-Concord 56, No. 2
Heritage-Brentwood 31: In the Division 1 title game, Maaeva Dwiggins scored her first of nine baskets just three seconds into the game as the Cougars opened the game on a 15-0 run and never looked back at St. Mary’s McKeon Pavilion. Dwiggins finished with a game-high 20 points as Carondelet (28-4) claimed its fourth section title in five seasons. It was the program’s first title in Division I. “We came out strong and set the tone for the whole game,” Cougars senior Brianna Simonich said. Heritage (25-5) never cut the initial Carondelet lead to single digits. The Patriots were led by Mikaila Wegenke’s 16 points. The Cougars are bound for the Open Division of the NorCal Regionals and could be seeded at No. 2 behind Mitty. Carondelet lost to Mitty 64-48 on Jan. 25. SAN FRANCISCO SECTION
Lincoln 64, Washington 54: At Kezar Pavilion, Savanna Andrews had 22 points and Yasmin Jimenez 17 as the Mustangs (27-6) won their second straight title for the first time in school history. Rika Baba had 17 points and Jessica Nakano added 11 for Washington (16-10), which led 15-7 after the first quarter and 23-21 at halftime, only to lose for the third time to the Mustangs. Lincoln scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, hitting five three-pointers in the final four minutes. “Washington played great,” Lincoln coach Jason Lee said. “They played with a lot of heart and really challenged us to play better . ... I’m just super happy for our girls to make school history. It’s been a four-year process for our seniors. We didn’t play our ‘A’ game. We played nervous and tense. But the seniors stepped up in the final four minutes. I couldn’t be prouder.”