Chants of “I believe that we just won; I believe that we just won.” reverberated in the Panther Pit after the Pinewood girls basketball team defeated Woodside Priory 48-32 and qualified for the California Interscholastic Federations (CIF) Central Coast Section (CCS) Open Division Championship. The team took the CCS Open Division playoffs by storm, winning by an average of over 27 points in their opening three games against Sacred Heart Cathedral, Saint Francis, and Priory.
Their dominant performances earned them a spot in the championship against Archbishop Mitty at Santa Clara University on Feb. 28. Junior Caitlyn Kramer spoke about what the team needed to do in order to win.
“It feels great to play in such a high stakes game and have the opportunity to play for a championship,” Kramer said. “We need to play with no fear knowing that we deserve to be there and give everything out on the floor.”
After falling behind by as many as 23 points behind Mitty, Pinewood cut the deficit down to five in the final minute of the championship. While they lost 59-51, head coach Doc Scheppler was proud of the team nonetheless.
“We’re all proud of our effort for the last three quarters of the game,” Scheppler said. “We need to start games with more energy and unconditional belief.”
Despite the close loss, the girls are still in contention for a state championship, as they have been selected as the sixth seed in the Northern California Open Division state playoffs. Their opening round matches will be away from home. Scheppler spoke about what his team needs to execute if they are to win in tough away environments.
“We need to really contain … high percentage finishes and wide open three-pointers,” Scheppler said. “Offensively, we need to create good shots for ourselves and we’re excited to compete in hostile environments.”
On the other hand, the boys team, led by head coach Chris Jackson, were selected as the ninth seed in Division V CCS playoffs. Their road to a championship began with an opening round matchup against The Kehillah School on Feb. 21. Heading into the game, Pinewood’s starting guard, junior Josh Tian, spoke about the importance of humility throughout the postseason.
“We’re excited to compete in CCS playoffs this year,” Tian said. “We beat Kehillah earlier this season, but we can’t go in with that mindset or our season will be over.”
Just as Tian warned against, the team started the game poorly and fell behind 21-9. However, they were able to regather themselves and clawed their way back to a 72-62 overtime win. The team advanced to the second round of CCS Division V playoffs, but unfortunately lost 60-45 to Basis Independent Silicon Valley School.
After the hard-fought matchup, Jackson and Tian both looked ahead to the upcoming 2025-2026 season.
Tian expressed his excitement for his senior season. Jackson spoke about the measures that they need to take in order for the team to improve.
“Our culture of effort needs to be more established,” Jackson said. “I’m going to put us in a position to continue to make growth, and the team’s improvement will go from there.”
