SANTA CLARA, CA – There’s a reason Cal, Duke and Stanford had coaches on hand at the CIF Central Coast Section semifinals on Tuesday night at Santa Clara High, with Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer leading the parade.
They were there to watch and let Archbishop Mitty junior star and reigning Cal-Hi Sports State Sophomore of the Year Haley Jones know of their interest in her and to show a presence at her games.
The bottom line is all the top programs in the nation want a slice of Jones right now, with Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma recently attending a Mitty game, but the question that remains is who will eventually get the whole pizza pie?
The answer is likely anyone Jones wants, and the way she played in a 72-45 dismantling by the top-seeded and state and national No. 1 Monarchs (26-1) of a very solid No. 4 seed Eastside only added a chapter to the drama of her eventual decision.
Her 26 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks could be a career game for most players, but isn’t earth shattering stats for the Jones. However, in the first quarter she outscored the Eastside team 14-11 and at the half it was Jones 23 and Eastside 21 with Mitty holding a 37-21 lead.
At that point the 6-1 wing and her teammates pretty much had sealed the deal, and the total team player that she is decided to start dishing in the second half. She did make one acrobatic move in the third quarter that delighted the fans when she hit an off-balance fall away jumper with defenders blanketing her.
“Haley had an incredible first half. She was fantastic,” said Mitty Coach Sue Phillips.
With University of San Diego-bound 6-2 post Nicole Blakes there to cheer her team on but using crutches due to a torn ACL she will have surgery on next Monday, it was apparent Jones knows she has to pick up the slack now that the big three has been reduced to the dynamic duo with her and Penn State-bound Karisma Ortiz.
Both Jones and Ortiz seem comfortable with either of them scoring and when not scoring points they have no problem doing some passing and screening.
Despite only scoring two points in the first half, Ortiz, a 6-0 wing, picked it up in the second half to squelch any thoughts of an Eastside comeback. She finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, with five in the first half when she was mostly dishing and five steals.
No one else was in double-figure scoring by senior Krissy Miyahara had nine points on three three-pointers.
Eastside Prep actually had a 9-6 lead early but Jones led a 17-2 run that crushed any hopes of an upset.
Senior Kayla Tahaafe played her heart out like she usually does and led Eastside (20-6) with 12 points, six rebounds, four steal and two assists.
Pinewood puts away Presentation in battle of Panthers
With Eastside Prep in the semis there were actually three teams with Panthers as their mascot at Santa Clara High with two in the first game where second-seeded Pinewood (25-1) opened the doubleheader with a 64-37 victory over No. 3 seed Presentation-San Jose. But even in what ended up as a lopsided victory Panthers Coach Doc Scheppler still wasn’t pleased with the overall effort.
“Play better than that,” was Scheppler’s response with a sly grin when asked what it will take to beat the nation’s top team. “Our defense was porous and we made too many mistakes.”
“We talked about putting this team away and I’m not sure why but it didn’t happen,” Scheppler continued. “We have to have a full 32 minutes to have any chance at all against Mitty and we didn’t get it tonight.”
Stanford-committed junior Hannah Jump didn’t score in the first quarter but Pinewood still had a 16-9 lead. From there the 5-11 sharpshooter picked it up and finished with 21 points, all in the second and third quarters, with three three-pointers, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jump now has 88 three-pointers this season and 252 for her three-year varsity career.
Junior Klara Astrom had 15 points (two three-pointers), six rebounds and four steals. Fellow junior Kaitlyn Leung made three treys and finished with 11 points.
Presentation (21-5) was led by senior Akemi Namba with 13 points.
With Pinewood and Mitty both advancing to the Open Division title game on Friday night at Santa Clara University, it sets up the third straight meeting between the two teams with the Monarchs winning both, 79-60 in 2016 and 65-57 last year.
Win or lose both teams will be advancing to the CIF Northern Regional Open Division playoffs and that brings back memories of two years ago when after losing by 19 points to Mitty, the next week Pinewood went into St. Mary’s-Stockton and shocked the nation’s No. 1 team at the time with a 72-69 victory in which freshman Jump hit six three-pointers. The question is can the Panthers pull off another upset on the nation’s top team?
“It will definitely take our best game but it’s nothing we can’t do and haven’t done before,” Claros remarked. “Two years ago we played the number one team in the nation. We’re not scared of the challenge. It’s something we’re looking forward to.”
For Phillips, when asked about playing at Santa Clara University again she was more concerned about the game than the gym.
“Santa Clara is a great venue but our girls and Pinewood would play down the street at the park,” Phillips said.
“What’s most important for us is we can’t have a sloppy 32 minutes like we did tonight,” Phillips continued. “We have to recognize our roles and play within our skill set and execute our scouting report defense.”
