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Pinewood Edges Castilleja in CCS Championships

March 7, 2009 on 9:02 pm | In Game Recaps | No Comments

Pinewood held off Castilleja to claim the CCS Division V Championship Saturday morning at Santa Clara University. Castilleja came ready to prove they weren’t just happy to be playing in the championships despite their 20-point loss to Pinewood the last time the two teams met. It would become clear after the opening tap that this game would be a far cry from Pinewood’s rout two weeks ago. The two teams, meeting for the fifth time this season, exchanged leads in the 1st quarter before Pinewood built a four-point advantage going into the 2nd. The Gators received four of their 11 1st quarter points from Eve Zelinger (seven points, eight rebounds, eight assists [ties Castilleja CCS high]) who hit her first two shots of the contest. Castilleja would dominate the 2nd frame holding Pinewood to five points (the lowest quarter total Pinewood has ever scored against Castilleja), while Castilleja used a late run to build a two-point halftime advantage. Ericka von Kaeppler (13 rebounds, four steals) would score eight of her game-high 19 points in the 2nd period as Zelinger deferred to the hot hand inside. In the second half, Castilleja would score the first five points, pushing their lead to seven at 27-20. Pinewood responded with a 9-0 run capped off by a three from Jenna McLaughlin. Castilleja didn’t back down and scored the next six points to regain the lead at 33-29. The Gators wouldn’t relinquish the lead until the closing seconds of the quarter when WBAL-Foothill MVP Lindsay Nickel hit a three, giving the Panthers a 35-33 lead going into the 4th. Castilleja remained in the game throughout the 4th and would tie the score at 41 on an Ericka von Kaeppler layup with just over a minute left. Pinewood countered with a layup from Hailie Eackles with 18 seconds left giving Pinewood the lead and the championship as Castilleja couldn’t convert on the offensive end on two tries including a desperation runner by Ericka von Kaeppler at the buzzer. Natasha von Kaeppler finished with a game-high 14 rebounds in the loss. Castilleja will await the results of the CIF NorCal seeding meeting Sunday as their season continues Tuesday night with the school’s first ever NorCal basketball game.

Notes: Eve Zelinger’s eight assists gives her the school’s all-time lead in CCS playoff games as well as a new single-season record breaking Mika Peterman’s mark of 151 in 2002-03…Pinewood outscored Castilleja 13-0 on fastbreak points…Castilleja had won its previous 35 games when leading at halftime…Natasha von Kaeppler becomes the third player in school history to record 100 career blocks.