SAN JOSE — Courtni Thompson jumped, twirled and pumped her fist. She looked to the Pinewood bench, and her teammates roared back at her.
The Panthers’ senior star, who had been held scoreless through the first three quarters, sank her first 3-pointer to pull Pinewood within 2. Then she did it again. Once Maia Garcia put back her own rebound midway through the final quarter, Pinewood had completed its comeback from a 12-point deficit in to beat top-seeded nemesis Archbishop Mitty.
Finally, after coming up empty in the past six Open finals, including the past five against Mitty, the Panthers vanquished the Monarchs and claimed their first Open Division title.
“It’s so sweet,” said coach Doc Scheppler — so much so he repeated himself. “So sweet. … It didn’t look good. We hit a couple shots, stayed the course and kept fighting.”
Thompson and Pinewood’s four other seniors had made it here three times before only to come up short against Mitty each time.
After Pinewood erased the double-digit deficit, Mitty senior Sydney Bourland, who led the Monarchs with 13 points, headed to the foul line for two shots. She made one, to give the Monarchs a 48-47 advantage with under a minute to go. It was only Mitty’s second made free throw in 10 attempts at the stripe.
Another Pinewood senior, Annika Decker, got the ball at the top of the key on the following possession, crossed over and cut between two defenders to the basket, where she finished a lay-up with a whistle. Decker connected on her single free-throw attempt to pad the Panthers’ advantage with less than 30 seconds left.
“I saw a lane and that the shot clock was running down,” Decker said. “We had been practicing our free throws, and I just sunk that one. … For it to be our senior year, ending it on that note, in Mitty’s gym, is an amazing feeling. … The whole game we had a sense of belief that this was our year. There was never any doubt that we weren’t going to win.”
Two moments, earned only through the experience of five previous losses, helped the Panthers stay on course even as they fell behind by as much as 41-29 early in the second half.
Thompson said former Pinewood star Hannah Jump, who just completed her sophomore season at Stanford, texted her before the game. Jump helped the Panthers earned their lone prior win over Mitty in the 2017 NorCal finals but lost four other matchups.
Her message, according to Thompson: “There’s going to be runs, it’s going to go back and forth, but it’s all about staying composed as a team and knowing that you’re going to get your run next.”
Another moment came the night before.
Scheppler was showing the team video their 76-44 loss in last season’s CCS Open final.
“One of them mentioned that we are so much better than we were last year, and that lifted everybody up,” Scheppler said.
So when they fell down by 12 points, the Panthers didn’t panic.
Instead, Scheppler and Thompson both credited the nothing-to-lose mindset that came with the large deficit.
“It’s a great psychological example of, ‘Heck, I’ve got nothing to lose.’ We got down 12, and that’s when the shots started falling,” Scheppler said.
Added Thompson: “That was a fun stretch. At that point, we’re down 12. It’s almost like we’ve got nothing to lose. … Once we tied it, I was thinking we might be able to pull it off.”
