LOS ALTOS HILLS, Calif. – In front of a raucous student section and a standing room only crowd, host and Cal-Hi Sports No. 13 and No. 2 seed Pinewood took charge in the second half of a game that was close through the first two quarters to post an impressive 48-32 victory over third-seeded No. 26 ranked Priory in the final game of Pool B play in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs.

With the win Pinewood (23-3) goes 3-0 in pool play and advances to the championship title game on Friday against top-seeded and Cal-Hi Sports No. 3 Archbishop Mitty. Mitty was just as impressive in its Pool play 66-32 victory over an Archbishop Riordan-San Francisco team that has had some quality wins.

The bottom line its Mitty and Pinewood for the whole enchilada and the history is pretty storied. The game will be on Friday at 6pm at the University of Santa Clara. Pinewood defeated Mitty in 2021 in the CCS Open championship but by and large Mitty has dominated in winning 12 titles since 2013 when the CCS went to an Open Division

“The girls have been pointing to that game all year and that’s where we’ve wanted to be,” Pinewood head coach Doc Scheppler remarked. “They’ve worked so hard and I’m glad they’re going to get a chance to play for a CCS championship at Santa Clara.”

Pinewood got back-to-back three-pointers from freshman Sloane Parenti and senior Vallory Kuelker to open a 6-0 lead to start and led 8-5 after one quarter, but although Priory would fight back to tie things at 10-10, Pinewood would never trail in the game, although Priory stayed close for most of the first half.

A turning point came late in the second quarter when Pinewood had a 22-19 lead. It appeared Priory would get the last shot of the half, but they went for a three-pointer early in the shot clock, missed, and Pinewood junior Caitlyn Kramer hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that sent the Pinewood rooting section into a pandemonium. It also completely reversed any momentum Priory had.

An 8-2 run to open the third quarter got Pinewood a 33-21 lead, and by the time the third quarter ended Priory only scored five points in the period and from the time it was 22-19 Pinewood outscored Priory 16-5 at with the scored 38-24 after three quarters the game was all but over.

“Offensively we weren’t flowing well. It was too sploshy out there,” said Scheppler about the first half. “When you go from three to six in a game like this its huge. At that point we needed to put together a couple of good four-minutes stretches and that’s what we did.”

Senior Jolyn Ding led Pinewood with 16 points (two three-pointers) six rebounds, four steals and three assists, and she played some great defense. Kuelker hit three three-pointers and finished with 12 points. Senior forward Katherine Garr controlled the paint and just missed a doble-double after finishing with nine points (one three-pointer) 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. Parenti had six points on two three-pointers, and Kramer hit the one trey and added five points, plus four rebounds and three assists.

Priory (22-5) had seven players score but none were in double figures. Senior Vienn Sheng hit two three-pointers and led the way with eight points.

Win or lose on Friday Pinewood almost assuredly is going to be in the state CIF Northern Regional Open Division playoffs.

Priory will await its fate when the divisions and seeds are announced on Sunday but with a 2-1 finish in the CCS Open bracket they should garner a fairly high seed in the Division I NorCal field.