Girls basketball: Redwood’s dream season comes to an end

The No. 3 seed in the CIF NorCal Division II tournament and home-court advantage weren’t enough to prolong the Redwood High girls basketball team’s season on Tuesday night.

Amid the finest run in school history, the Giants stumbled in the first round against No. 14-seeded Vanden of Fairfield, 52-48.

“It’s the State playoffs — nothing is easy,” said Redwood coach Zach Borello. “Tonight wasn’t our night.”

The Giants (25-7) were coming off their first North Coast Section D-I championship in program history and a second-straight undefeated MCAL season that pushed their league win streak to 20-0.

Individually, 5-foot-11 senior guard Kitty White left an indelible mark on Redwood basketball with a school record 1,553 points, including a team-high 22 points in her final high school game. White will play at Cal State Monterey Bay next season.

“What a magical season, what a magical run, what a magical team,” said Borello. “Best team I’ve ever coached.”

Vanden (26-6) went unbeaten in the Monticello Empire League and reached the semifinals of the Sac-Joaquin D-I tournament. When the Vikings learned they were seeded 14th in NorCals, they weren’t very pleased.

“We took it personally that we were the 14th seed,” said Vanden coach Allison Johnson. “We didn’t feel like we were the 14th seed, but we had to prove it.”

Of course, the Giants weren’t taking the Vikings for granted. They pulled out a first-round upset in the NorCals last season as the No. 12 seed.

As the higher seed this season, Redwood did a good job on the Vikings’ league MVP point guard Makayla Smith and got 6-3 all-league post Kimora Snell to foul out. However, Borello confessed he wasn’t expecting 5-11 sophomore Kailee Brown to score a game-high 23 points, including several key three-pointers that tilted the game in the Vikings’ favor.

“Kai Brown kept us in the game,” said Johnson. “That girl has ice water running through her veins. We put the ball in her hands and put her in a position to be successful, and she knocked it down.”

Brown gave the Vikings their first lead of the game, 36-33, with 37 seconds remaining in the third quarter with a three-pointer from the top of the arc. On the previous possession, she tied the game on a pull-up jumper.

White retaliated with her own three-pointer to start the final period, evening the score at 36-36. She added another bomb a minute later and drove inside for a basket to keep the Giants close but trailing, 42-41.

Redwood sophomore point guard Drew Schultz, who finished with 11 points, gave the Giants their last lead, 44-43, converting a three-point play with 3:39 left.

Brown took over from there with a drive inside and a game-sealing three-pointer with 1:02 left that put Vanden ahead 48-44.

“We knew it would be a war,” said Johnson. “When you’re in the playoffs, it doesn’t matter what your ranking is.”

Redwood’s inside game looked solid in the first quarter, when the Giants built a 17-9 lead. But the Vikings’ very physical play limited 6-3 junior Hindi Copeland and 6-1 Brooke Denler offensively to five and four points, respectively. Copeland, who sat most of the third quarter with four fouls, finished with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

“I loved the way we came out,” said Borello. “I knew they were going to come back. That’s not a team that’s going to roll over. Every team that makes it this far is going to be a good team.”