Cal stays with Lady Centurions this time
COAL CENTER — The first time they met, Greensburg Central Catholic taught California how to play Class AA girls basketball in a 61-36 win over the Lady Trojans.
In the rematch at Cal last night, the Lady Trojans showed they were paying attention earlier and hung tough in a 50-39 loss to GCC.
“We got blown out up at their place,” said an upbeat Cal coach Chris Minerd. “We gave them a good game here. I think we showed them that we can play with them.”
And while GCC earned yet another double-digit Section 3-AA win, the Lady Centurions saw the value in making the trip to California.
“They did a good job overall,” GCC coach Joe Eisaman said. “We knew it was going to be like this, but it was nice to show that we can win a half-court game. Hat’s off to Cal, but this is a nice section win for us.”
The Lady Trojans gave GCC fits most of the night, as Cal led 14-9 through one quarter and led most of the half, until the Lady Centurions tied it, 21-21 and 22-22 at the break.
Cal re-established its five-point lead at 28-23, forcing a GCC timeout halfway through the third, but the timeout seemed to signal the end for the Lady Trojans.
The Lady Centurions forged a 10-0 run to take a 33-28 and Cal managed to fight back to make it 33-31 at the end of the third quarter. But Central scored seven straight to open the fourth to push its lead to 40-31 forcing another Cal timeout at 5:23 and GCC made all six of its free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.
“We had that one drought in the third quarter that let them back into the game,” Minerd said. “We made a couple mistakes in that stretch and they took advantage of them.
“They are the best shooting team in our section, but we kept them under wraps most of the night.”
Minerd especially lauded senior Jenna Miller, who guarded Brittany Stawovy closely all night and limited the GCC star to 11 points. Stawovy didn’t reach double figures until she canned a pair of free throws with 23.9 seconds remaining.
“Jenna did an excellent job on Stawovy,” Minerd said. “I don’t think there are many girls in our section who can hold her to 11 points.”
“She sees it quite a bit,” Eisaman said of Stawovy drawing a tight man-to-man defense. “She knows what to do in those situations and she did it tonight. She set up her teammates tonight with some good open looks.”
Her sister (junior Olivia Stawovy) had a nice game with three three-pointers for nine points and Anna Eisaman also hit a three on a pass from Brittany Stawovy.
Haley Moore and Brittany Stawovy led GCC with 11 points each and Maddy Coddington added 10 as GCC improved to 13-4 overall and 10-0 in section games. GCC’s only losses have come to Class AAAAA Oakland Catholic and Class AAAAAA Hempfield, Penn-Trafford and Pine-Richland.
Dominique Gaston led California (16-2, 8-2) with 11 points and junior Bailey Vig added 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. And, yes, both of Cal’s losses have come against the Lady Centurions.
“They beat us twice, so there is no doubt that they are No. 1 in our section,” Minerd said. “We’re No. 2 right now, but we have some tough games coming up. Beth-Center and Frazier are right behind us, but they have to play GCC again and play us again.
“If we can win out and finish the season at 20-2, we have a good chance at a bye in the first round of the playoffs.”
For now, though, Minerd has to be content with showing the Lady Centurions that his team can play with them.