The San Bruno kid steps up for powerhouse Mitty

A San Bruno native, Woliczko is following in some big footsteps, that of her mother Erica, who was a four-time CCS softball champion at Capuchino.

“Honestly, I was really nervous coming here,” Woliczko said. “This being me first CCS game, hopefully I can get all four like my mom did for softball. So, I was really nervous but also, I was really excited, and we were really prepared as a team to come play Pinewood.”

Stepping onto the court at the Leavey Center may have been nerve-wracking for Woliczko, but she has been there before. Plenty. Her father Aaron is the West Coast Conference senior associate commissioner for men’s basketball. The freshman Woliczko said she drew off her family ties for inspiration in Friday’s CCS finals.

“Right when I stepped on the court, I was like — WCC logo, this is giving me power to go at it today,” Woliczko said. “Like, I’ve got it.”

She sure did. Woliczko made a quick impact on the championship stage, scoring eight first-quarter points en route to going for 22 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

At 6-2, with length that makes her play ever bigger than that, hearing the “She’s a freshman!” chant when Woliczko gets it going sounds odd. To see her wide eyes stepping into the championship arena, though, makes it clear she’s new at this. Woliczko said she was in awe of the championship legacy Mitty athletics — this was the Monarchs’ 31st CCS girls’ basketball title, and the 24th for head coach Sue Phillips — but even with the program’s No. 1 Northern California ranking, Woliczko still has the sense she is living a dream.

“It’s all a surprise,” Woliczko said. “Obviously coming to Mitty, there’s going to be things that people expect. There’s a chance to go to Nor Cals, there a chance to go to State, CCS, win league. And it’s just step by step. You’ve got to take it day by day.”

Friday’s victory was a dominant showing for the Monarchs, who won each of the first three quarters, and took a 59-40 lead into the fourth. Mitty, though, never backed down off the full-court press that frustrated and flustered Pinewood to no end.

Of the relentless defense, Pinewood head coach Doc Scheppler said bring it on.

“It’s every play,” Scheppler said. “I like that philosophy because it makes you get better on every possession. We don’t care what the score is. We could be up 30. We’re going to get better every possession.”

For Pinewood’s senior standout Ava Uhrich, it was a tough night. The Burlingame native showed up with a gutsy performance but was held to six points and four rebounds. Mitty had two or three big bodies on her fulltime.

“Their whole defense was designed to not let her score,” Scheppler said. “They were focusing on her, and rightfully so. She gets our easy baskets. … The easy baskets that Mitty gets, Ava gets that for us. You saw the Crystal game (during which Uhrich scored 36 points in a Feb. 7 win) she was getting those baskets against Crystal.”

To Uhrich’s credit, she never came off the floor. There was a personal element to the game, as Uhrich was going against her former teammate from Burlingame High School, Mitty’s 6-1 junior reserve Elana Weisman. The two hadn’t stepped onto the same court since they were teammates at Burlingame, where they reached the CCS Division II semifinals last season.

Playing 32 minutes is just a night in the life of the gamer from Burlingame, though. She showed the toughness it takes to do so Friday early in the second half. Uhrich got tangled with a Mitty opponent at midcourt and hit the floor hard. She got up rubbing her forearm but kept her back to the Pinewood bench in the process, and just played through it.

“She’s a very good player,” Woliczko said. “She went to Burlingame High School. And, so, Burlingame and Capuchino were kind of rivals. So, when I first thought I was going to go to Capuchino, that was someone I thought I was going to play, but I was going to Mitty, and she transferred to Pinewood, and yet we still played each other today.”

Next up for both Mitty and Pinewood is the CIF Nor Cal playoffs, which open next week.