SAN DIEGO, CA – With the demands of the club teams increasing more and more there were top-rated girls like years past that played part of this year’s 32nd Annual San Diego Classic with their high school team, and then departed, and some like Stanford-bound Hannah Jump of Pinewood-Los Altos Hills that didn’t even play a minute at the hanger-like facility at Alliant International University.
Even so, and despite not having the highest ranked recruit that could have played at this year’s Classic, defending CIF Northern Regional Open Division champion Pinewood still was the class of the 3A Division with the girls they had on the court. The result is the Panthers won a second straight 3A title after a 42-32 victory over an itself shorthanded and young Centennial-Corona.
Pinewood trailed early but started to take charge after the score was tied 7-7 midway through the first of two 20 minute running-clock halves and led 15-11 at halftime.
In the second half point guard and incoming sophomore Annika Decker took over with her quickness and incoming senior Klara Astrom controlled the glass despite Centennial having some quickness of its own, and a decided height disadvantage Pinewood seems to always have against most top teams.
Decker had 13 of her game high 19 points and three of her four assists in the second half, while Astrom, who led the team in scoring in four of the six games, only had six points, but she had 13 rebounds and three assists, and eight of the rebounds and all the assists came in the second half.
Incoming sophomore Courtni Thompson, who made 15 three-pointers in the six games of the Classic, had two in the title game and finished with seven points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Incoming sophomore Una Jovanovic hit a trey and added seven points and five rebounds, incoming senior Kaitlyn Leung hit a three-pointer to round out the scoring, and rebounding machine Trinity Copeland did not score but had eight rebounds.
Despite giving away height to Centennial the Panthers out-rebounded the Huskies, 33-17.
To its credit Centennial, who after many years of playing in the San Diego Classic was making its first title game appearance, fought all the way despite not having its tallest player, 6-2 post Jessica Thompson, who played the first three days, or several other players including incoming senior guards Lisette Delaney and N’Dya Parks. That pair did not play at all due to club commitments.
Although as a team they did not score a lot of points Centennial got a solid game from 2020 guard Madison Green. She finished with six points on one three-pointer. Incoming sophomore Jayda Curry added five points, four rebounds and three steals, and 2020 guard Lauren Smith had five points and five rebounds.
The Prep2Prep MVP for this year’s San Diego Classic was shared by two Pinewood players. Astrom, who had 12 three-pointers in the tournament, shared co-MVP honors with Thompson.
Being in San Diego with the sun and beaches one might have thought that would have been part of Astrom’s answer about what was the most fun about the San Diego Classic, but it wasn’t.
“Just being able to play with my team,” answered Astrom, who is still undecided but has several college offers including some Ivy League schools. “Every team says it but we’re like a family. I love this team. We played with a lot of joy this week and had some great team bonding on nights at the hotel.”
“This is tournament where we can make mistakes and correct them,” Pinewood Coach Doc Scheppler told the girls after the game. “This is a tournament where lessons are learned.”
The team learned some lessons but fans and analysts also learned that Pinewood, particularly with Hannah Jump hopping and popping, is going to be a team to be reckoned with this coming season.
Choice leads Cardinal Newman to third place finish
Anya Choice played well all week, and she even had 12 of the 19 points Cardinal Newman posted in a blowout semifinal loss to Pinewood, but in the third place game against defending Utah 5A state champion and a big and strong East-Salt Lake City, she took it up a notch.
With star teammate and 2019 point guard Avery Cargill out with a mild concussion suffered on Friday, the incoming Cardinals junior combo guard took charge and put on a show in 49-35 victory. She buried six three-pointers and finished with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
“Anya had a great game,” Newman Coach Monica Mertle said. “I thought she was balanced offensively and I like that she scored in a variety of ways. I also thought her leadership was fantastic.”
Christina Bacci, a 2020 that plays a guard/forward combo, had a solid game and scored six points with six rebounds. Incoming sophomore Aysia Dural had five point, five rebounds and a block, incoming freshman guard Reese Searcy had a three-pointer with four rebounds and three assists, and incoming sophomore Emily Schmidt came off the bench to contribute five points, three rebounds and two assists.
East was short players for two reasons. Two of their top players did not make the trip and several of the girls are Latter Day Saints followers and they don’t play on Sunday.
At the same time Coach Olosaa Solovi was more interested in his team working on its defense, and on two occasions in the game he had the girls surrender possession as he shouted at them to play defense.
East was led by 2019 guard Margarita Satini with 13 points plus three steals. Incoming 6-1 junior Precious Fanmansili added 11 points and seven rebounds. Incoming senior Blanche Pritchard had six points and five rebounds, and 2020 wing Lealani Fehten, who had a big game against Centennial in a semifinal loss, was held to two points bur had a game high eight rebounds.
All the Newman girls played together at the San Diego Classic and a third-place finish is good for a young team, but now the girls disperse for the July NCAA viewing period.
Choice joins the Cal Stars where she has been promoted to the Nike Elite team in replacement of Haley Jones, who is off with the USA U17 National team, and Cargill and Dural with play with the Mavericks out of Stockton.
All local 2A title game goes to Cathedral Catholic
The San Diego Classic 2A title game matched up two teams from different leagues but both from the North County area of the CIF San Diego Section.
Cathedral Catholic-San Diego, the No. 8 seed in last season’s CIF San Diego Section Open Division that also made it to the CIF Southern Regional Division II semifinals as the No. 15 seed, had just too much size and controlled the paint in a 45-32 victory over La Costa Canyon-Carlsbad.
The Dons only trailed once at 8-7 midway through the first half, but they went on a 10-3 run to take control and led 17-11 after the first 20 minutes. La Costa Canyon closed to 29-28 midway through the second half, but they ran out of gas and Cathedral Catholic closed out the game with a 16-4 run
For Cathedral Catholic incoming senior guard Angelina Rogue hit two three-pointers and finished with 12 points. Incoming sophomore guard Alyssa Garcia added 11 points, Mazatlan Harris, a 6-2 a center from the class of 2020, had a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds with three assists and three steals, Naomi Gipson, a 2020 6-0 power forward added nine points and seven rebounds, and incoming 5-11 senior forward Kaylee Stiffler only had two points, but she had six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
La Costa Canyon was led by incoming senior guard Alexis Machain. She had 12 points on four three-pointers, and added four rebounds and two steals. Incoming junior Katie Quain came off the bench to hit two treys and finished with seven points, and incoming senior Carolina Sanchez hit a trey and added six points. Hannah Etheridge, a 6-1 incoming sophomore, had a team high seven rebounds but only mustered two points.
