SACRAMENTO – After two long seasons from either side of the state, Pinewood from tiny Los Altos Hills and Windward of Los Angeles travelled to the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento for the final battle for the CIF Open Division State Championship.
After a triple-overtime upset against then No. 1 Archbishop Mitty last weekend, Pinewood was ready to give everything on the court against Windward, but ultimately fell behind the Wildcats despite a promising first quarter. As Windward pushed ahead of Pinewood on both sides of the court, the Wildcats seized the state championship title with a 58-47 win.
“In our first game of the year, we were down by 18, and then we came back and we won, and I just knew that this season was going to be wild,” Windward head coach Vanessa Nygaard said. "These girls have been committed to improvement. They’ve been committed to working hard. They’ve struggled through some stuff, and they’ve really grown as a group."
Coming into the final quarter with a 47-35 lead, Windward was comfortable yet refused to pull back on offense or defense, especially as Pinewood freshman Courtni Thompson began to drop easy baskets from outside, ultimately contributing 14 points, including a trio of three-pointers.
Two minutes into the quarter, Pinewood was within six points after being in a large deficit the entire half, but a series of poorly executed inbounding plays allowed the Wildcats to fight their way back up to a 10-point lead.
Windward junior Charisma Osborne, not ready to back down from an excellent night of outside shooting, stunned the crowd as she fired off a shot from almost two feet outside of the NBA three-point line, swishing the basket with ease as the Wildcats continued to inch up on the scoreboard. Osborne ultimately contributed 6-of-8 threes to her game-high of 25 points.
“[Osborne] actually shoots the lowest percentage from three out of our starters,” Nygaard said. “Not tonight, obviously."
As the end of the game neared, both teams noticeably pulled back on offense, until the final buzzer rang as the Wildcats tackled each other onto the ground before rushing to embrace each other as they grabbed onto their state championship trophy.
As Windward seized the first possession, Pinewood came prepared to battle, going on a run of well executed plays as they brought their lead up to 9-2 within two minutes of the first quarter.
Senior Brianna Claros led Pinewood on offense, controlling the Panthers’ notoriously fast-paced plays as she kicked the ball up to junior Hannah Jump, who put up most of the team’s shots that quarter.
Windward struggled defensively, not able to contest Pinewood’s strong outside shooting until they called a time out, after which they came onto the court with new energy. Osborne led the Wildcats with her effortless ball handling, pushing to the basket with several strong drives as Windward inched their way back up the scoreboard. With just over a minute left, Pinewood’s lead had shortened to 14-13, until another basket from Osborne brought Windward up to 15-14 at the end of the quarter.
“[Osborne] is an example of competitive greatness,” Nygaard said. “She shows up when you need her, but she also has a great supporting cast that she can count on."
As the second quarter began, Pinewood struggled to execute on offense and began to lag behind as the Wildcats picked up on their three-point shooting.
Osborne led Windward on offense as she rained threes on the Panthers, quickly bringing the Wildcats up to a sizable lead. Sophomore McKayla Williams was a force to be reckoned with in the post, putting up easy baskets down low while Pinewood struggled to contest her size and strength.
The last few minutes of the quarter were stagnant for both teams, but the Wildcats refused to give up their lead. For the Panthers, usually notorious for their three-point shooting, this was a low-scoring quarter, and they quickly fell behind as Windward charged into halftime at 32-21.
“We’re able to win games when other teams choose to deny [Jump] the ball and we expect our other players to finish at the rim,” Pinewood head coach Doc Scheppler said. “We didn’t do well at that in the first half."
The third quarter began with Windward senior Kamil English retreating to the bench after busting her lip by running into Thompson. English had been a key presence at the free-throw line for the Wildcats, picking up several fouls with her strong drives to the basket, but Windward refused to let her absence set them back.
After Windward extended its largest lead of the night at 43-30 with three minutes left in the quarter, Pinewood began to pick up its shooting as junior Klara Astrom put up her two three-pointers of the night, totaling 15 points.
Despite a good effort from Astrom, Pinewood had no answer for Osborne, who not only continued to finesse her way to the basket while dropping in outside shots, but also stayed attached at the hip to Jump while defending her, preventing Pinewood’s star shooter from contributing any more than nine points.
“It’s tough, but that’s basketball,”Jump said. “When they take away something that you’re good at, you have to counter it and find something else."
Windward ended the quarter back up at 47-35 as it prepared for the final stretch.
