Central Coast Section girls basketball playoff finals oundup: Mitty gets scare, wins Open again

Pinewood can't overcome deficits of 13-0 and 27-7, but making things interesting at Santa Clara University; Los Gatos (D1), Pospect (D2), Mills (D3), Menlo School (D4) and Castilleja (D5) win titles

Mitty girls basketball team poses after winning a CCS Open Division title game for the ninth time in 10 years / Photo: Ethan Kassel

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA — Losing one of the top 10 players in the country — in this case 6-foot-2 junior McKenna Woliczko — would derail any squad. But the Monarchs of Mitty are no ordinatory team or program.

"The fact we can still put five Division I players in our starting lineup has been a good place to start," Mitty Hall of Fame coach Sue Phillips heading into Friday's Central Coast Section Open Division final at Santa Clara University. "We've tweaked some things in how we attack and the girls have generally shared equal parts in filling in the enormous void. But we're doing well."

For a moment late in Friday's game with Pinewood it didn't look so well for the Monarchs, and the improbable looked at least possible.

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But the 23-point deficit proved to be just a bit too much to overcome, and the Monarchs won the CCS Open Division Championship for the ninth time in 10 years and the 10th time overall, 59-51 at the Leavey Center.

Mitty and Pinewood have now met in the championship game in nine of the past 10 years. With the exception of the 2021 game, played before a small crowd limited by COVID restrictions, the Monarchs have won all of them.

This one wasn't quite like the previous Mitty victories, though. Of the prior eight, only the second one, back in 2017, was within eight points. It also wasn't quite as amicable.

When the top-seeded Monarchs congregated at center court to celebrate at the final buzzer, a couple of Mitty's players directed barbs at Pinewood's players, drawing Panthers head coach Doc Scheppler's ire.

"It's bush league," said the longtime head coach and shooting guru. "We don't talk smack, and we don't expect people to talk smack to us. I'm gonna stand up for my girls."

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Scheppler's girls took quite the stand themselves after a nightmare start. Pinewood (23-4) conceded the first 13 points, trailed 27-7 after a quarter and 45-22 when Cosgriff scored after freshman Maliya Hunter deflected an inbound pass with 6:02 remaining in the third. But the Panthers whittled the deficit down to 15 by the end of the third quarter and got within nine when freshman Sloane Parenti was fouled at the end of the shot clock with 2:42 left in the game.

"We got caught up in the emotion early," Scheppler said. "But it was a classic example of getting comfortable. Then they were the ones thinking and worrying about the clock and missing free throws. We were playing free, and they were the ones in jail."

Southern Utah commit Vallory Kuelker's 3-pointer made it just 49-43 with 2:13 left, but sophomore point guard Tiera McCarthy served as closer for the Monarchs. She scored eight of her team's final 10 points, starting with a finish in the lane with 1:44 left as the shot clock wound down. She scored again after Mitty (25-3) broke the press in response to two Jolyn Ding free throws and went 4-for-6 at the line across the final 1:02, even banking in one of her free throws.

"T is a winner," Phillips said. "She was All-Tournament at the Nike TOC when we defeated Ontario Christian, Mater Dei and Clackamas. We miss McKenna (Woliczko), of course, but we have the pieces."

McCarthy finished with 16 points, second only to sophomore Ze'Ni Patterson. The Heritage transfer outscored the Panthers by herself over the first quarter-and-a-half, scoring 14 in the opening eight minutes and finishing the game with 17.

"Our preparation pushed us," Patterson said. "That's Mitty basketball right there, all of us doing our hard work. We played as a team, and that's what happens."

Cosgriff and Hunter each added nine points and six rebounds.

"We have minimal depth compared to the Mitty machine," Scheppler acknowledged. "It's an advantage to have 15 players on the team that are better than my 6 through 10."

Ding, committed to Division III NYU, led Pinewood with 17 points and five rebounds. Kuelker scored 12 of her 14 in the second half and Bowdoin commit Katherine Garr chipped in eight.

2025 CCS GIRLS BASKETBALL BRACKETS

Open Division

Championship

No. 1 Mitty 59, No. 2 Pinewood 51

Division 1
Pick 'Em

Championship

No. 1 Los Gatos 42, No. 3 Menlo-Atherton 30

Division 2
Pick 'Em

Championship

No. 5 Prospect 50, No. 2 Christopher 30

Division 3
Pick 'Em

Championship

No. 2 Mills 51, No. 1 Notre Dame 50

Division 4
Pick 'Em

Championship

No. 1 Menlo 54, No. 3 Harker 51

Division 5
Pick 'Em

Championship

No. 1 Castilleja 43, No. 2 Summit Shasta 32