PORTAGE — Central Cambria thought it went into the halftime down two, however, after the two scorebooks confirmed with one another, it only trailed by one at the break.

The Lady Red Devils kept the points mounting up on the scoreboard in the third quarter as they turned a 56-39 victory on Friday night at the 31st Annual Art Burkett Memorial Tournament at Len Chappell Gymnasium.

“We just talked at halftime how Portage threw their best punch at us and we wanted to respond starting the third quarter with a punch of our own,” Central Cambria coach Brittany Bracken said. “We wanted to make sure we executed. I thought we were doing things well in the first half but we weren’t finishing. We wanted to clean it up a bit — focus on the details and the small things and execute.”

Central Cambria will meet Penn Cambria, which beat Southern Huntingdon 69-48 in the first game, in Saturday’s title game slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. Portage will play the Lady Rockets in the consolation at 6 p.m.

After a back-and-forth first half that featured four ties and 11 lead changes, CC, which was down 23-22, immediately got a steal and layup from Delaney Snyder to start the third. That gave her team a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The Red Devils were two steps ahead of the Lady Mustangs in the third frame as fast break points, offensive rebounds, holding Portage to one shot when CC wasn’t turning them over, were some of the major factors that allowed the game to completely flip.

“We came out with some energy, and we were determined,” Bracken said. “We really picked it up rebounding offensively and defensively which enabled us to run and get more looks.”

Central Cambria was busy going on a 13-0 run to open a 35-23 edge before a free throw from Portage’s Mya Burda ended the scoreless streak at the 2:25 mark.

The Lady Red Devils controlled the boards by a 12-4 difference while the defense came up with 10 turnovers.

“We came out in the second half, and you always talk about winning the first three minutes of the second half, and obviously they (Central Cambria) won it,” Portage coach Lance Hudak said. “They switched up their defense and went to more of an odd front with the trap and really extended it. We didn’t take care of the ball, and they turned those into transition points on the other end.”

Six CC players reached the scorebook in the third, as Katie George, who tallied a game-high 14 points and 12 rebounds, contributed a pair of 3-pointers and a free throw in the quarter.

The Mustangs finished the third with a 7-2 edge to pull back within 12 at 43-31.

“I really liked that we battled back and started scoring,” Hudak said. “I was really proud of the girls there.”

However, Central Cambria, behind four straight points from Snyder, pushed back to a 16-point advantage as Portage could only get as close as 14 (49-35) the rest of the way.

In the second half, the Lady Red Devils outscored the Lady Mustangs by a 34-16 margin, while forcing a total of 18 turnovers and holding a 24-13 edge in rebounding.

In the first, Portage got a driving layup from Kendall Bednarski to open the scoring less than a minute into the contest.

Scoring was hard to come by as the Mustangs held a slight 7-6 lead after the first eight minutes.

The second stanza alone had four ties and eight lead changes, as Central Cambria’s biggest edge was three (15-12) after Makenzie Hite drilled a trey.

Portage’s largest advantage was at four (23-19) when Bednarski converted.

In the opening game, PC led by just two after the opening quarter but began to take control in the second where it held a six point scoring edge to head into the half up 38-30.

The second half saw a 12-point difference in the Panthers favor as they cruised into the finals.

Rachel Fisher knocked down four 3-pointers for 17 points, Sophia Beard and Peyton Rabatin totaled 11, while Makenna McCoy finished with 10 for PC.

The Lady Rockets were led by Josie Hull’s 14 points and 13 by Ella Young.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (56): Long 2 0-0 5, George 5 1-2 14, Ruddek 1 4-4 6, Alexander 3 1-4 8, Grimaldi 3 2-4 8, Matlin 0 0-4 0, Snyder 2 2-4 6, Hite 3 2-2 9. Totals: 19 12-24 56.

PORTAGE (39): C. Burkett 0 0-0 0, Myher 4 2-2 12, Bagby 1 0-2 2, Bednarski 4 0-0 9, B. Burkett 0 4-4 4, Irvin 1 0-1 2, Stancovich 1 0-0 2, Burda 1 3-4 3, Krestar 0 0-0 0, A. Burkett 0 0-0 0, Harsh 0 0-2 0, Sossong 0 0-0 0, Noel 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-0 0, Myers 0 0-0 0, Offman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 9-15 39.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Cambria 6 16 21 13 — 56

Portage 7 16 8 8 — 39

3-point field goals: Central Cambria 6 (George 3, Long, Alexander, Hite); Portage 4 (Myher 2, Bednarski, Burda).

Records: Central Cambria (2-0); Portage (1-1).

SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (48): A. Young 1 5-8 8, Peterson 0 2-2 2, E. Young 2 9-12 13, Hull 4 2-2 14, Clark 3 0-0 9, Walters 0 2-2 2, Price 0 0-0 0, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Wingert 0 0-0 0, Griest 0 0-0 0, Gant 0 0-0 0, Cowan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 20-26 48.

PENN CAMBRIA (69): Ronan 0 1-2 1, McCoy 3 1-2 10, Lemaster 2 5-7 9, Fisher 5 3-4 17, Beard 4 2-2 11, Stipanovich 0 3-4 3, Rabatin 2 6-7 11, Gergley 3 0-0 7, Rickens 0 0-0 0, Davison 0 0-0 0, Marana 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 21-28 69.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

So. Huntingdon 16 14 11 7 — 48

Penn Cambria 18 20 17 14 — 69

3-point field goals: Southern Huntingdon 8 (Hull 4, Clark 3, A. Young); Penn Cambria 10 (Fisher 4, McCoy 3, Beard, Rabatin, Gergley).

Records: Southern Huntingdon (1-1); Penn Cambria (1-1).