Special to the Town Crier
Girls Basketball Playoffs
The Pinewood School and Homestead High girls basketball teams hoisted respective Central Coast Section championship trophies last weekend at the San Jose State Event Center and look for a bigger prize this week.
Pinewood, which has been Northern California's top Division V program all season, handled No. 3 Redwood Christian 78-52 in last Friday's CCS Division V title game. Homestead edged top-seed Leland 45-43 Saturday in the Division II finale, thanks to a Julia Randall jumper with 14 seconds left.
Pinewood and Homestead will now try to capture NorCal championships.
Pinewood (27-1) earned the top seed in the Division V bracket of the NorCal playoffs and opened play last night against No. 8 St. Bernard (23-8) at Palo Alto High. An expected win puts the Panthers in the NorCal semifinals Thursday at either Paly or Pinewood against No. 5 Etna (23-6) or No. 4 Waldorf (32-2).
Homestead (27-3) grabbed the No. 2 seed in NorCal Division II and hosted No. 7 Paradise (14-11) yesterday. A Mustang win means they will host Thursday's semifinal against No. 6 Ukiah (29-2) or No. 3 Casa Roble (24-8).
In last Friday's CCS win, Pinewood received outstanding post play from sophomores Sebnum Kimyacioglu and Katie Collins. Kimyacioglu tallied 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Collins had her best game of the year with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kimyacioglu nailed two key three-pointers at the end of the first half to give the Panthers a 35-23 lead at the break.
"We were as prepared as we've ever been for NorCal," said Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler. "This is the funnest part of the year."
Senior point guard Lauren Smith-Hams added 19 points for the Panthers, who won their second-straight CCS crown.
As for Homestead, Randall's game-winning field goal avenged a 41-40 loss to Leland in December. The Mustangs held the Chargers to just 25 percent shooting from the floor in Saturday's game.
"I think we played extremely well against a team that is very physical," said Homestead coach Wade Nakamura. "We prepared by scrimmaging against our junior varsity boys team."
Senior Julie Speckels of Los Altos scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the second quarter and was assisted by Michelle Wald's 10 points.
Homestead now owns three CCS titles.