Lady Warriors cruise past P-O
EVERETT — Cammie Jenkins tried to get an early start on Tuesday night’s District 6 Class 3A high school girls basketball first round playoff game by coming out before she realized PA announcer Jim Droz was calling for her Everett teammate, Hannah Prather.
“They usually call me before Hannah, and I was confused,” Jenkins said sheepishly.
Once the ball was officially tipped, Jenkins just kept going.
Continuing a breakout year, the 5-foot-10 Lady Warrior senior had a double-double in the first two quarters. Everett followed her lead, turning in a terrific performance to run away from visiting Philipsburg-Osceola and its sophomore scoring sensation, Halle Herrington, 76-32.
Sydney Reffner fronted the Lady Warriors with 22 points, while Jenkins wound up with 19 to go along with 15 rebounds. Hannah Prather scored 10 of her 14 in the third quarter, when Everett pushed the margin to 40 points, bringing the running clock into play.
Herrington scored 25 for P-O, which completed its season 10-13. Everett, now 19-5, will travel to third-seeded Juniata for a Thursday quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. The Lady Warriors now have won nine straight games, including their victory over state-ranked Bellwood-Antis in the Inter-County Conference championship on Saturday night.
“We’re in our prime, and we work well as a team,” Reffner said. “Everyone gels. We have chemistry and we have fun playing together.”
A big part of that chemistry has been Jenkins, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, as Everett assumed a commanding 40-16 advantage. A reserve last year when the Lady Warriors had 6-foot all-star Kadie Morral patrolling the paint, Jenkins has emerged as a senior.
“She’s so competitive. Our kids feed off that,” Everett coach Keith Moyer said of Jenkins’ play. “She’s always been that type of player. She’s just played behind some other really good post players that we’ve had at Everett. Now she’s getting her opportunity, and she’s making the most of it.”
Jenkins surpassed her averages of 11.8 points and 9.8 rebounds coming into Tuesday’s game in the first half alone. She said she worked hard in the offseason, even hitting camps, to prepare herself to start.
“I have worked very hard to step into Kadie Morral’s shoes. Those are very big shoes to fill. She tells me all the time that I’ve done really well taking the leadership role,” Jenkins said. “She tells me she’s proud. The coaches tell me they’re proud. So I think I am doing pretty well.”
With Jenkins’ overpowering presence, Everett was able to forge a huge 58-28 rebounding edge. The Lady Warriors also scrapped their way into forcing Philipsburg-Osceola commit 21 turnovers, which Everett often turned into transition layups.
“I knew it was going to be tough. I knew that they were strong on the inside,” Lady Mounties coach Alexis Bacher said. “I think the nerves got the best of them. It’s to be expected. They’re young.”
There only are three Lady Mounties on the P-O roster. All seven players that got in Tuesday night were underclassmen, and the only one of them that was a junior was Loryn Hughes.
The 5-3 Herrington scored all 16 of P-O’s first half points and the Lady Mounties’ first 19 in the game, displaying a diverse offensive arsenal that included step-back 3-pointers, floating teardrops, driving scoops to complete quick-footed drives and even one field goal that could be best described as an over-the-shoulder flip.
Herrington entered the game needing 37 points to reach 1,000 in her career.
“It was great playing a hard team like Everett. They played very well. We just didn’t step up tonight,” Herrington said.
Moyer joked that he’d have liked to have had Herrington playing for his team. Instead, he had Reffner chase her all over the court, and Reffner even blocked a couple of Herrington’s shots, making her work hard for her points.
“I love (guarding the other team’s top scorer),” Reffner said. “It zones me in more. I have to focus more, and I have to be ready to play on both sides of the floor, not just one.”
Reffner scored at least two field goals in each quarter and hit a pair of 3-pointers. Everett reached the 20-point mark in both the second and third quarters and almost did in the first, as well.
With the win, the Lady Warriors assured themselves of at least two more games, too — the top five teams in the bracket advance to interdistricts this season. Moyer, though, wasn’t hearing about that just yet.
“We’re not going to Juniata to lose. When we step off the bus, I think our kids will be ready to play,” Moyer said. “We only have one goal. That’s to get to the last game.”
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA (32): Herrington 9 4-7 25, L. Hughes 0 0-0 0, C. Hughes 2 0-0 4, Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Lucas 1 0-0 3, Bordas 0 0-0 0, Winters 0 0-0 0. Totals — 12 4-7 32.
EVERETT (76): Mills 4 0-0 10, Maxwell 2 1-1 5, Reffner 10 0-0 22, Prather 7 0-0 14, Jenkins 7 5-8 19, Hicks 0 2-2 2, Colledge 1 0-0 2, Jay 0 0-0 0, Hall 0 0-2 0, Ewing 1 0-0 2, Bulger 0 0-0 0, Graham 0 0-0 0, Iseminger 0 0-0 0, Delozier 0 0-0 0. Totals — 32 8-13 76.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Philipsburg-Osceola 4 12 10 6 –32
Everett 19 21 26 10–76
3-point goals: Philipsburg-Osceola 4 (Herrington 3, Lucas); Everett 4 (Reffner 2, Mills 2).
Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (10-13); Everett (19-5).
Officials: Tim Hite, Jerry Kauffman, Larry Stitt.
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