Penn Valley girls finish D6 March as runner ups; falls to Penn Cambria

By Kenny Varner 

LORETTO – And then there were two.

It was a battle of high tempo offenses when the Penns Valley girls basketball team met Penn Cambria in the District 6 Class A championship game Saturday evening at Mount Aloysius College.

The meeting was the first in the team’s history.

Penns Valley kept up the pace with the uptempo Panthers for much of the game but midway through the third, Penn Cambria made its move and went onto a 78-63 marathon scoring game.

Hannah Montminy, Bella Culver and Jordan Andrus all finished in double figures.

Culver finished her night with a double-double posting 18 with 10 rebounds. 

Montminy tallied 16 with three boards while teammate Jordan Andrus had 12 in the loss.

Despite the loss, the Lady Rams’ season is still not over after securing a PIAA state bid with its first round victory over Central.

“Penn Cambria is a real good team and we knew that coming in. We knew it was going to take one of our best games that we have played,” Penns Valley coach Karen McCaffrey said. “They were a little bit deeper than we are. Their trap is pretty good.”

In the first quarter, Penns Valley struck first on a triple by Montminy. Central Cambria cut it to one on the following possession as Emmy Harvey hit a jumper.

Andrus put her team back up by three, hitting a shot in traffic, making it 5-2 with 6:32 left in the opening period.

The quick, smothering defense came out after that as the Panthers clamped down and forced the normally patient Penns Valley offense to force the ball over to Penn Cambria.

The result was a 13-2 run, putting them up 15-8 with 3:55 left in the period.

The only Penns Valley bucket in that run was by Culver, who went and scored inside.

But the Rams didn’t get to the title tilt by accident as they matched the Panthers with a run of their own.

In that run, the Penns Valley offense ended the period on a 7-2 run.

The result was just a 17-15 deficit for the number one seed.

Penns Valley came out battling in the second, posting the first four points, giving them the lead back at 19-17.

However, on the next possession, Penn Cambria Battle Bald back  tying the game at 19 on a scoop shot in the lane by Makalyn Clapper.

The shot would spark yet another scoring drive by the Panthers as they jumped out again to a large lead, thanks to its 7-0 run.

The two battled back and forth and Penn Cambria edged out to take a 10-point advantage as the second quarter hit the mid point.

But Culver and company weren’t going to go down without a fight as she started the Rams on a run that would put them ahead at the intermission.

After Culver’s two buckets from the charity stripe, teammate Paige Kubalak scored off a turnover as did Montminy. 

Montminy hit two buckets in consecutive drives down the court to pull her team to within one.

Lydia collision tied the game after hitting 1-of-2 from the free throw line, tying the game at 33.

When the clicked ticked under a minute the Rams added eight more points while holding the Panthers to six.

When the buzzer sounded ending the first half, the Lady Rams led 41-39.

In the second half, the Panthers opportunistic defense clamped down even harder and started to pull away despite the hard fought effort of the Rams. 

The Panthers took the momentum into the final stanza after holding Penns Valley to just nine in the quarter.

Its offense however, was sizzling picking up a 24-point effort to take a 63-50 advantage into the final stanza.

Despite its best efforts, Penns Valley would never be able to battle out of the hole they made in the third and fell 78-63.

However, despite the loss, the Rams still guaranteed itself a runner up nod and a PIAA state playoff game next week.

Related Posts

• 
  Juniata baseball doubles up Wolfpack
• 
  Lady Rams blank Somerset in softball action
• 
  Frontz posts five hits in double dip win over Wolves