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Bauer’s big game helps CC to win

Central Cambria’s Jenna Bauer came to play Wednesday night.

The senior forward recorded a double-double and helped fuel a momentum-swinging third-quarter rally that propelled the Lady Red Devils to a 67-52 Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference road victory over Bishop Guilfoyle at the Pleasant Valley Gym.

“I thought she was amazing, unbelievable,” said Central Cambria head coach Brittany Sedlock, whose team improved to 14-5 overall and 12-3 in the LHAC, and swept the season series against BG. “She’s a very unselfish player. She’ll grab the rebound, pass it out, play good defense, shoot when she’s open. She had a really great all-around game tonight.”

Bauer, who grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds, scored six of her 10 points during a difference-making 18-0 run over a four-minute span in the third quarter. She connected on a pair of free throws, turned a steal into a layup and put back an offensive rebound during the run to help the Lady Red Devils take control of the game and never look back.

“We kept our composure,” said Bauer, referring to an early first-quarter deficit. “That’s the best we’ve played as a team in a while. We just came off a loss to Cambria Heights (55-45), and we were all pretty upset about it, and we knew we needed this win.”

The ball didn’t bounce Central Cambria’s way very often in the early going. Bishop Guilfoyle (12-8, 10-6 LHAC) took control early.

Sophomore Teresa Haigh drilled a 3-pointer, and then fed Sophia Warner for a layup to take a quick 5-0 lead. After a Liz Bopp layup put Central Cambria on the board, 5-2, the Lady Marauders scored six unanswered points to take an 11-2 advantage and held a 17-7 edge after the first quarter.

Central Cambria chipped away at the lead throughout the second quarter. McKenna Hayward and Cassid Bezek combined for 11 points to help the Lady Devils slice the lead to three points (24-21) at halftime.

Jamison Consiglio’s layup at the 5:50 mark of the third quarter stretched BG’s lead to four (30-26), but that’s when the wheels came off for the Lady Marauders.

CC’s Bopp got things started with a layup at the 5:26 mark and Kiersten Szpala’s 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the quarter put the Lady Devils in charge, 44-30. Consiglio stopped the bleeding with a free throw at 1:41.

“I thought that Bishop Guilfoyle came out firing,” said Sedlock, who got her first win at BG in her fifth year as head coach at Central Cambria. “We didn’t panic, we maintained our composure and when we were able to get the energy and the momentum back, we held onto it. We talked a lot about energy this week — gaining it and keeping it — and I think we did a really good job with that tonight.”

The Lady Marauders cut the lead to 10, 47-37, on a pair of free throws from Leah Homan, but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the game.

“Shots were falling for us in the first half, which was really nice,” said BG coach Kristi Kaack, “but then in the third quarter, we hit a stretch where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket. We weren’t doing the work on the defensive end, we weren’t containing penetration, and when you can’t score and you can’t keep them in front of you, you’re gonna be in trouble.”

Haigh led BG with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and had a team-high six rebounds. Consiglio also grabbed six rebounds for the Lady Marauders. BG struggled from the free throw line, making just 6 of 18 attempts.

Central Cambria’s Hayward scored a game-high 22 points and chipped in eight rebounds. Hayward also helped seal the game by going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:07 of the game. Bezek added 12 points and Szpala had 10 for CC.

On Friday, Bishop Guilfoyle travels to Forest Hills while Central Cambria hosts Somerset.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (67): Bauer 4 2-2 10, Hayward 5 10-12 22, Wess 2 0-2 5, Bezek 3 5-6 12, Bopp 3 2-2 8, Lockard 0 0-0 0, Szpala 3 1-2 10, Kudlawiec 0 0-0 0, Stevens 0 0-0 0. Totals – 20 20-26 67.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (52): Consiglio 3 1-4 7, Warner 2 0-2 4, Homan 2 2-4 6, Scipioni 1 2-3 3, Haigh 7 0-1 18, Kilmartin 2 0-0 5, Krug 2 0-0 5, Brunner 1 2-4 4. Totals – 20 6-18 52.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Cambria 17 7 13 15 — 52

Bishop Guilfoyle 7 14 26 20 — 67

3-point goals: Central Cambria 7 (Hayward 2, Wess, Bezek, Szpala 3); Bishop Guilfoyle 6 (Haigh 4, Kilmartin, Krug).

Records: Central Cambria (14-5, 12-3 LHAC); Bishop Guilfoyle (12-8, 10-6 LHAC).

JV: Bishop Guilfoyle, 32-26. High scorers: Jojo Woods, CC 11; Blaise Kilmartin, Allison Bagley, BG, 7.

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