SANTA CLARA >> Archbishop Mitty called a timeout with two minutes remaining in a close Central Coast Section Open Division girls basketball title game Friday, its once 23-point lead having evaporated to just six after Pinewood guard Vallory Kuelker dropped in a 3-pointer.

The Monarchs desperately needed a spark … and they found it in sophomore guard Tee McCarthy.

She slalomed into the lane for a nifty mid-range jumper on the first play out of the break, causing Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler to call a timeout of his own.

She then proceeded to score six more points in the final 100 seconds to help keep Pinewood at bay.

“I was not nervous at all,” said McCarthy, who finished with 16 points. “In practice, we work hard so in that moment, we can execute.”

When the final buzzer sounded and signaled the end of Mitty’s wild 59-51 victory at Santa Clara University, McCarthy and her teammates lifted the program’s 10th Open Division title and 33rd section championship trophy overall.

“It just feels amazing to celebrate these moments with my teammates,” McCarthy said.

Despite battling illness, Mitty’s Hall of Fame coach, Sue Phillips, couldn’t help but smile when talking about her team’s resilience en route to yet another CCS crown.

“CCS champs, it never gets old,” Phillips said.

On the other side of the court was Pinewood’s renowned Scheppler, who had seen his team scrap its way back from a 27-7 deficit after one quarter. Mitty’s Ze’Ni Patterson scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the opening frame.

It was also a run in which Scheppler did not call a timeout until his Panthers were down 18-3.

“We needed to save our timeouts for the end, and I let them get away,” Scheppler said. “It was too much, and I should’ve have called timeout earlier.”

Being down big to Mitty was not a new frontier for Pinewood.

Mitty had faced Pinewood eight times before in the Open final, all in a row between 2016 and 2023, until St. Ignatius snapped the streak last season.

The Monarchs have dominated the series of CCS Open title games, with Pinewood’s only victory being a 50-48 win in 2021.

On Friday, Jolyn Ding and Kuelker combined for 31 points — 17 by Ding — and fueled the Panthers’ 9-2 run to begin the fourth.

By the time Kuelker made her timeout-inducing triple, she couldn’t help but let out a fierce scream as Pinewood (23-4) almost came all the way back. The Panthers outscored Mitty 44-32 over the final three quarters.

Up next for both teams is regional play, where Mitty — and likely Pinewood — will be placed in the NorCal Open bracket.

Phillips made it no secret that she believed her Monarchs (25-3) should be seeded No. 1.