Charisma Osborne leads No. 21 Windward past 12th-ranked Pinewood for California Open title

Video: Shareef O'Neal finishes on top
Watch the son of Shaquille O'Neal lead his Crossroads' squad to a state-title victory Friday night.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The third time was not a charm for the girls basketball team at Pinewood (Los Altos Hills, Calif.).

That's largely because the third time the Panthers had to face Charisma Osborne.

After shocking national No. 1 Mitty and No. 5 St. Mary's-Stockton last week, Pinewood couldn't take down a third nationally-ranked squad, in this case No. 21 Windward (Los Angeles) which got 26 points from Osborne in a 58-47 CIF Open Division championship game win Saturday at the Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings. Osborne, a 5-foot-9 junior guard, made 9 of 15 shots, including a state Open Division record six three pointers (on eight attempts) as Windward won its second consecutive state title. Last year the Wildcats won at the Division 1 level.



"Three-for-three, let's go for it," Osborne said after the game, meaning three titles in three years.

Every time Pinewood (27-3) made a run, Osborne seemed to answer, including back-to-back 3s after Pinewood had closed to 37-27 late in the third quarter.

In the fourth, after a Courtni Thompson three-pointer cut the deficit to 47-38, Osborne again delivered beyond the arc. Pinewood, which fought back from a 16-point deficit last week to Mitty, countered with back-to-back 3s from Klara Astrom and Thompson to make it 50-44, but 6:00 left, but like they did all night, Windward and the answer, this time with a 7-0 run to basically put it away.

Kamil English (14 points) had a three-pointer and a floater in the run. McKayla Williams, a 6-1 sophomore, added eight points and eight rebounds for the winners. "I can't say I was expecting this going into the year and I know a lot of people doubted us," Osborne said. "I was glad we proved them all wrong."

Windward did a superb job of holding down Pinewood leading scorer and Stanford-bound Hannah Jump (nine points). She came in averaging 19.

Astrom, a 5-9 junior, was superb all night with 15 points and eight rebounds and Thompson, only a freshman, contributed 15 points. Pinewood, known for its three-point shooting was 6-for-17, not bad at 37 percent. But Windward was 10-of-24 on threes, something coach Vanessa Nygaard made a point of.



"It's been a great year and the girls really busted their butts to make this happen," she said. "Much was made of their three-point shooting, but we have great shooters too."