Pinewood too much for Priory in WBAL girls basketball showdown

PORTOLA VALLEY — In a matchup Tuesday between two of the best girls basketball teams in the Bay Area, West Bay Athletic League rivals to boot, Pinewood left no doubt as to who is on top of the pecking order at this point of the season with a convincing start-to-finish road domination of Priory, 63-38.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Priory coach Buck Matthews said.

Pinewood (8-2), ranked No. 5 in the Bay Area News Group’s Top 20, had ruled Peninsula girls basketball for years. No. 8 Priory (10-2) has had its success as well, but usually a level below the Los Altos Hills team. But last year Priory ended a 15-game losing streak to its Peninsula rivals and shared the WBAL title.

“They kicked our (butts) last year and don’t think I didn’t remind the girls,” Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler said. “Two weeks from Friday they will come to our place, make the necessary adjustments and make things a little different. We did the same thing here to them last year, almost a running clock in the fourth quarter, and they did the opposite to us. And they know that.”

Homecourt disadvantage.

“Losing to them on Senior night last year was definitely a wake-up call for us because it affected our CCS seeding,” point guard Caitlyn Kramer said. “Coming into this game we knew not to underestimate them. We prepared a lot during practice and took that energy into the game.”

On Tuesday, with former Pinewood and Stanford standout Hannah Jump rooting the team on before leaving for Turkey on Friday to play professionally, the visitors jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never let up. Pinewood played with a combination of speed and precision and executed offensively at a high level, shooting 60% for the game (24 of 40), 16 of 25 on 2s and 8 of 15 on 3s. Katherine Garr led the way with 19 points, Vallory Kuelker scored 16 and Jolyn Ding had 12.

Long known for its 3-point marksmanship, Pinewood knocked down eight 3s but did even more damage taking the ball to the hoop. The team’s two ball-handling guards, Kramer and Ding, took turns backing down defenders for post-up layups.

“We know how they defend our sets and we ran counters to them and got layups,” Scheppler said. “All of our philosophy is getting easy shots, easy scores within the framework of how we play. That means 3s or at the rim.”

Pinewood forced 14 turnovers and turned a number of them into transition baskets.

“They couldn’t get anything,” Scheppler said. “We were in their grill, made them very uncomfortable.”

Garr, a transfer from Palo Alto, scored from inside and out and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Kuelker, a Gunn transfer, made three 3s and drew praise from Scheppler for her defense.

“At one time Vallory was the worst defensive player we’ve ever had and tonight she was the best defensive player on the court,” Scheppler said.

Kuelker talked about what it’s been like coming to Pinewood.

“Competitive, everyone has a love for the game,” Kuelker said. “These are all my closest friends. We do everything together. We go to the gym together, lift together. It’s such a bond. We have fun, we all root for each other.”

Jordyn Moss led Priory with 10 points, Natalie Neumann scored nine.

“We had 14 days off, hadn’t played since December 30th, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Matthews said. “I’ll put all the blame on me as a coach. We didn’t shoot well at all. We didn’t execute. We’ll see them in a couple of weeks. We should be better then. But they came in tonight and did an amazing job.”