Lady Trojans advance in playoffs with 59-42 win
California’s Jenna Miller (3) has her shot blocked by Jefferson-Morgan’s Erin Confortini (15) during Tuesday’s WPIAL consolation playoff game at Peters Township High School. (Photo by Holly Tonini)
Holly Tonini
California’s Kylie Huffman (15) looks for room to pass around Jefferson-Morgan’s Shelby Rosinsky (00) during Tuesday’s PIAA Class A 5th-place Play-In playoff game at Peters Township High School.
Holly Tonini
California’s Kat Pankratz (35) makes a pass around Jefferson-Morgan’s Erin Sullenbarger during Tuesday’s PIAA Class A Play-in playoff game at Peters Township High School.
Jefferson-Morgan's Erin Confortini (15) drives the ball around California's Marissa Bitoni (21) during Tuesday's PIAA Class A 5th-place play-in playoff game at Peters Township High School.
McMURRAY — In a battle of the top two teams in Section 3-A Tuesday night, California continued its recent dominance in the rivalry and picked up a 59-42 win over Jefferson-Morgan in the PIAA Class A Play-In semifinal playoff game at Peters Township High School.
After having their 22-game winning streak snap Monday night with a loss to Riverview, the Lady Trojans (23-2) bounced back and relied on a strong defensive effort in the second half.
“I talked to them in school today and I told him we had forget about the loss,” Cal coach Chris Minerd said. “We are in a tournament now and its win or go home. Nobody can take away that we won 22 games in a row and now our goal is to make states. We picked it up in the second half and we played California basketball.”
California will play Serra Catholic in the play-in final on Thursday for the right to be the fifth seed from the WPIAL to qualify for the state tournament.
The Lady Rockets’ historic season ended with a 20-4 record, with three of their four losses coming against California.
J-M’s playoff win a couple of weeks ago against Cornell was the program’s first in the first round in decades and the 20 wins on the season is its highest total in several seasons.
“We are always an upbeat team,” J-M coach Chris Niemiec said. “This team has great resolve and we didn’t let the loss to North Catholic get in our heads. You can’t wipe the smile off my face after this loss because these girls did so much this year. This is a great group of kids.”
Kylie Huffman led all scorers with 13 of her game-high 17 points coming in the final 16 minutes of play.
“As a team we are always competitive and we knew we had come out with our A game against Jefferson,” Huffman said. “We were disappointed with the loss on Monday, but we had to come together. It’s always a challenge beating the same team three times in one season. Our intensity was up in the second half and we controlled the game with our defense.”
Lyndsey Huhn scored a game-high 15 points for the Lady Trojans, while Kat Pankratz (eight), Jenna Miller (seven) and Brooke Clements (six) contributed Cal’s offense in win.
J-M, which used a hockey-like subbing method by subbing in five players at a time to wear down the Lady Trojans, was led by nine points from Anna Mattish, while Kayla Yorko and Ally Bogden tallied eight apiece.
Cal started the game with nine straight points before Mattish hit a trey for J-M, but the Lady Trojans had a 12-3 edge at the end of the opening eight minutes.
In the second stanza and after three points by the Lady Trojans, the Lady Rockets’ offense and outside shooting woke up and delivered a 16-2 spurt to get back into the contest.
Mattish and Bogden both had threes in the run, while Yorko added two 3-pointers. A mid-range jumper by Jamie Lawrence gave J-M its first lead, 19-17, at the 3:25 mark of the second.
“We wanted to mix it up against Cal,” Niemiec said. “We always have great depth and we wanted to use that tonight. We used about 12 girls tonight with different line-ups and sets against them. Our depth wore them down in the second quarter and we took advantage of some open shots. It was very effective for us.”
Cal quickly responded and ended the first half with an 8-3 run to lead 25-24 at halftime.
After the teams traded points to start the third quarter, the Lady Trojans broke away with a 12-3 rally for a 43-33 lead at the end of three.
Huffman and Huhn combined for 10 of Cal’s 18 points in the period.
”We didn’t want our season to end tonight and we were motivated after the quarterfinal loss,” Huhn said. “We had to forget the road to the Pete (Petersen Events Center) and start the road to states. We had to start the second half strong and get a big lead. We attacked the hoop and we wanted to be aggressive in the paint.”
In the fourth quarter, Huffman scored five quick points to start the frame and the Lady Trojans carried a 16-9 scoring advantage in the quarter to continue their season.
”We contested every shot in the second half,” Minerd said. “Brooke Clements brought a lot of energy off the bench. We dictated the tempo and tried to find the mismatches that we had with our size. This is a young rivalry and both teams have a lot of young talent.”