Sports
Girls Basketball: Saint Mary's Tops Piedmont to Win Third Straight NCS Title
Freshman Gabby Green led the Panthers with 16 points.
No. 1 Saint Mary's 73, No. 7 Piedmont 48
The Star: Freshman Gabby Green led the Panthers with 16 points.
The Turning Point: Saint Mary's went on a 20-0 run in the third quarter which turned a seven-point game into a lopsided affair.
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Who's Next? Both teams will await their first round pairing for the CIF Northern California tournament.
The Bottom Line: Piedmont did a good job hanging around, but Saint Mary's depth and talent finally caught up. The Panthers 28-point third quarter sealed their third-straight North Coast Section title.
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freshman Gabby Green can get used to this.
Her teammates and coaches already have.
The Panthers used a 20-0 third quarter run to turn a close game into an easy win as they won their third-straight North Coast Section Division IV girls basketball title at Saint Mary's College on Saturday, defeating No. 7 Piedmont 73-48.
"I knew they won it last year, so I'm just trying to help keep it going," said Green, who led the Panthers with 16 points. "We have one big goal — to win state — but we have to acomplish the smaller steps along the way."
The Panthers fell 58-44 to Harvard-Westlake in the Division IV state title game last year and will be among the NorCal favorites to return to the game against this year.
"I expect to get the No. 1 seed, but it's going to be a tough run," Saint Mary's coach Nathan Fripp said.
The Panthers were concious of Piedmont's Fresno State-bound senior Saidah Allen and tried to push the tempo to limit her involvement Green said.
Piedmont went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 37-30 wtih four minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter and appeared poised to make it a game.
It didn't happen.
Just three minutes later Saint Mary's led 57-30.
The Panthers, who are the No. 1 ranked Division IV team in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, have won 14-straight games since on Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Shannon Mauldin scored 11 points, while Emily Vann and April Bernal added seven each.
No. 1 Saint Mary's 73, No. 7 Piedmont 48
Piedmont
10 12 10 16 48 Saint Mary's 18 13 28 14 73 Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp) Piedmont Allen 6 2-4 14, Welch 1 0-0 2, Mills 1 0-1 2, Pehanick 1 0-0 2, Mann 2 4-4 8, Seyranian 5 5-7 16, Zheng 2 0-1 4. Totals 18 11-17 48. Saint Mary's Serrell 1 0-0 3, Cowling 3 0-1 6, Rowland 2 0-0 6, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Bernal 3 1-2 7, Vann 3 1-1 7, Sims 4 4-4 14, Green 6 0-1 16, Mauldin 5 0-1 11. Totals 29 6-10 73. 3-point goals: Saint Mary's 8 (Green 2, Rowland 2, Sims 2, Serrell, Thomas), Piedmont Records: Saint Mary's 27-4, Piedmont 19-12. NCS championship, girls basketball, 3/5/2011 Follow Patch Sports East Bay on TwitterGet more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.