Santa Clara, CA - The way the game started was nothing like the way it ended after top seed and everything No. 1 Archbishop Mitty proved they could take a punch and keep on ticking.
Top-seeded Mitty overcame a 22-12 first quarter deficit to win a third-straight Central Coast Section Open Division championship, all over Pinewood-Los Altos Hills, after the Monarchs posted a 76-62 victory on Friday night at the Leavey Center at Santa Clara University.
Despite playing a schedule that included the top-ranked teams in the nation, Mitty had only trailed once after first quarter all season, and that was in an 82-63 victory in West Catholic Athletic League play against Sacred Heart Cathedral, and they only trailed by a point and not like the 10 against a Pinewood team that came out looking like they might pull off the huge upset of the nation's top team.
After coming out a bit sluggish Mitty (27-0) woke up and turned up the heat in the second quarter with a textbook full-court press to outscore Pinewood 25-5, and from there the Panthers never recovered from the 37-27 halftime deficit.
Pinewood opened the third quarter with a 7-2 run to cut it to 39-35 but that's when junior star Haley Jones and Penn State-bound senior Karisma Ortiz took over the game. By the time the teams entered the fourth quarter Mitty led 56-39 and the starch was pretty much out of second-seeded Pinewood.
"That first quarter we weren't playing Mitty basketball," said Mitty Coach Sue Phillips, who won her 20th CCS title and No. 27 for the Monarchs program. "At the break I told the girls if we're going to sit back and take their punches we're going to lose mightily."
Junior Ania McNicholas, who is starting in place of San Diego-bound Nicole Blakes, whose high school career was ended in February with a knee injury, led Mitty with 21 points, including nine in the pivotal second quarter.
"I had no idea I'd be the leading scorer," said a smiling McNicholas. "We all felt pressure with Nicole out but we all had to take over for her missing points and rebounds. Winning state for Nicole is our goal but we're taking it one game at a time.
Jones had a double-double 20 points and 14 rebounds and Ortiz added a double-double 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“The first quarter definitely wasn’t our best game,” Jones said. “We were rushing the shots and not executing the game plan. So I was just trying to keep a smile and know its all going to come in time because we were preparing for this the whole season. I was just trying to keep a positive attitude and keep working because it’s a four quarter game
Pinewood (25-2) came out with tremendous intensity and after it was 10-10 they went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter. Unfortunately for the raucous Panthers faithful that were part of a packed house their girls did not have an answer for the Mitty press.
Stanford-committed junior Hannah Jump led Pinewood with 20 points with three three-pointers. Fellow junior Klara Astrom added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds for a Panthers team that was out-rebounded 44-28 for the game.
"You have to hand it to Pinewood. They came out ready to play, Phillips remarked. “But I thought after the first quarter we did a phenomenal job of taking them out of their game and disrupting their rhythm."
There is little question Mitty will be the top seed in the CIF Northern Regional Open Division when the seeding are announced on.
For a Pinewood team that now has lost four straight CCS Open title games after losing in 2015 to Sacred Heart Cathedral, where they will fall will be interesting since even in losing they could be as high as the No. 2 seed.
