Lady Rams get final say in D6 battle with the Red Devils

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 27, 2019

HOLLIDAYSBURG – This game was not for the faint of heart.

For four quarters Tuesday night, the Penns Valley girls basketball team and opponent Central Cambria battled back and forth with numerous lead changes even into the final minutes of the game.

Despite trailing as late as 2:30 in the contest, the Lady Rams stayed calm and collected to pick up the 53-45 victory to advance to play Penn Cambria in the next round of the District 6 playoffs.

“We preach and they have played as a team since they were in seventh grade. They continue to play as a team,” said Penns Valley coach Karen McCaffrey. “ They don’t get down on themselves when something’s not going right because they know one of their teammates would pick them up. I thought Bella Culver had the game of her life.”

Leading the way offensively was Culver who finished with a double-double, scoring 15 in the first half on her way to a 27-point night.

Central Cambria focused strongly on outside shooting threat Hannah Montminy. But Montminy was still able to pull out 10 points in the contest. Defensively, she forced the Red Devils into numerous turnovers.

But down the stretch, the Rams got big defensive stops from Emma Butler who stole the ball and a rebound late that changed the momentum and shifted it back to Penns Valley in the final minutes to secure the win.

Fittingly, it would be Butler that ended the game scoring on an easy lay up with five ticks left on the clock.

Going into the final stanza, Central Cambria and Penns Valley were knotted at 35.

Page Wess got the Red Devils our of the period on the right foot posting a soft jumper to take the 2-point lead.

Culver tied the game back up as she was fouled on the Lady Rams next possession and hit 2-for-2 from the line.

After forcing a bad shot, Penns Valley got the ball down court and into Page Kubalak. She was fouled in the process of shooting and hit 1-of-2 to give the lead back to the Lady Rams 38-37 with 7:00 left in the game.

Culver pulled down an offensive board on the following possession and sent it back in, upping it to 40-37.

However, The Red Devils defense tightened forcing the Lady Rams to commit two consecutive turnovers which led to a 6-2 run and a change of the lead giving them a 43-40 advantage with 3:15 left.

The only points came from Culver who hit 2-of-2 again from the line and forcing Cassidy Bezek to foul out of the game.

The Rams took advantage of the loss and got the ball back. This time it would be Montminy that would come through in the clutch with a lay up off the turnover and the steal by Butler. With the bucket, the Rams took back the lead 44-43.

However, that was short lived as McKenna Hayward was fouled on the following Red Devil possession, taking the lead once again by one with 2:30.

But seconds later, Hayward fouled out seconds later as she hacked Leah Beban on the way up for a shot.

With the pressure on Beban was clutch and hit both shots from the charity stripe, making it again a 1-point Penns Valley lead with 1:08 left.

Butler again came up big when asked to as she was fouled and hit 1-of-2 seconds later, upping the lead to 47-45.

On the next play on defense, Butler once again got a clutch steal and got the ball out to Culver. Culver was fouled in the act of shooting and made the most of it.

Again she was a perfect 2-for-2 widening the lead to 49-45.

Penns Valley called a time out to prepare the defensive strategy and relax their players.

It worked well as once again Butler found her way to the ball as this time she pulled down a clutch rebound, all but insuring the win for the Rams. She again got the ball to Culver and Culver went for another 2-for-2 trip to the line, extending the lead to 51-45.

The Red Devils tried to get closer but as time was running out, they missed another bucket and the ball went to Butler. With the ball, Butler smoothly layed it in and that would be enough to run out the clock, moving the Rams to the next round.

In the first quarter, the Rams got out to a sizzling start, leading 20-11 as the first quarter got to the buzzer.

But the Red Devils bounces back in the second, closing the Penns Valley lead to just 31-27 going into the intermission.

Both teams battled in the third to a 35-all tie setting the stage for the Lady Rams late heroics.

With the win, the scene will be determined in a Friday match up against Penn Cambria.