The Piedmont High School girls basketball team began the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs by getting a key part back: Sophomore point guard Jenelle Solis. The Highlanders responded by pulling away from a familiar foe, beating Cardinal Newman, 66-45 at Binks Gymnasium on Feb. 19.
Third-seeded Piedmont (20-3) advanced to the semifinals at No. 2 Carondelet on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.
Solis suffered a foot injury back in December. She returned to play one game against Bishop O’Dowd on Jan. 13, then missed the rest of the West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division schedule.
“I think I hurt it worse (in the game against Bishop O’Dowd),” Solis said. “I got a CT scan the next day.”
It turned out Solis had a fracture in her arch.
Her shooting looked a little rusty: She scored nine points and missed all five of her 3-point attempts. But she did hand out six assists. She said she felt great on the court with the foot taped up and the adrenaline rush of playoff basketball.
“I didn’t feel anything in my foot,” she said. “I was ready to go, I just kept pushing it. I’m fine.
“My stamina, I was honestly surprised I lasted the whole game without getting subbed out. I’m not going to lie, I was a little tired toward the end.”
With Solis out, the remainder of the team had to take over her ball-handling responsibilities. Now that she’s back, it’s like making a late-season trade for a star player.
“Jenelle is just a great team player and she helps us get better all the time,” said Alexa Ba, who scored 16 points. “When we lost her, it hurt us, but then we got back into a rhythm and we were able to build more chemistry. So when she (got back), it only made us stronger.
“We got good playing without her and playing with what we had, so when she came in, it elevated our game so much, she’s such a great play-maker, it just opened shots up for everybody.”
This was the third matchup between the schools in 365 days. Last year, the teams met in the first round of the Open Division at Cardinal Newman, with the home team overcoming a 24-17 halftime deficit to take a 51-45 win.
“We definitely learned from last year,” Solis said. “We knew Cardinal Newman was a really good shooting team.”
Then, in the championship game of the Paris Twins Classic in December at Binks, Piedmont pulled away in the second half for a 64-50 win.
This time, the Highlanders led most of the way but the Cardinals closed the gap in the third quarter, cutting it to two points. A bucket from Taylor White and a pass from Solis that set up Andrea Martin made it 47-41 at the break. In the fourth quarter, the Highlanders defense kicked it up a notch, forcing five turnovers and holding Cardinal Newman to two of 14 shooting from the floor.
“The game shifted at the end of the third quarter,” Cardinals coach Monica Mertle said. “They ended up scoring at the buzzer and then it just snowballed from there. I think that’s how important possessions are and how quickly a game can slip away. They got some good momentum at the end of the third, it carried into the fourth and we couldn’t recover from it.”
White had a terrific night, scoring eight points and pulling down 16 rebounds.
“This game was really fun,” White said. “It was just coming to me.”
Martin had her usual excellent game, finishing with 20 points on eight of 16 shooting. Ba had five rebounds.
“I wanted one more rebound, though,” she said. “My coach asked me how many rebounds I could get and I told her, ‘Six.’ She was like, ‘You need to get one more!’”
Macie Flores led Cardinal Newman with 16 points including four 3-pointers. Avery Vinson had 15 points and six rebounds.
Piedmont has solidified itself as one of the top programs in the NCS, having made the Open Division three consecutive years. In fact, four of this year’s six teams made the Open Division last year and five made it the year before. Mertle noted the pride she has in her program having made all six Open Division brackets since the NCS introduced it.
The Highlanders lost to Carondelet in the Open Division playoffs in 2023-24, 83-53. The Cougars are also a familiar opponent for Piedmont in summer leagues. They are 23-5 on the season and received a first round bye.
“It’s going to be a tough match but they have to watch out for us, too,” White said. “We comin’. We gotta play hard defense. Carondelet hits a bunch of threes so we gotta lock that out and not get any threes off.”