By Dave Mackall

For the Mirror

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP — Family members and fans of the Penn Cambria girls basketball team on Saturday waited patiently inside North Catholic’s gymnasium long after the Panthers absorbed one of their worst losses of the season.

They were anticipating their team any second would be emerging from its locker room following a season-ending 59-29 loss in a first-round PIAA Class 4A playoff so that they could congratulate and console the players, many of whom were completing their first high school season.

“It’s a learning curve for these young girls. I had 10 freshmen on this team,” Penn Cambria coach Josh Himmer said after spending some extended private time with his team. “I told them that I was unbelievably proud of them and I never want to take away the accomplishment in which they just earned to get to where they are today.”

Penn Cambria’s latest season ended abruptly with the humbling, 30-point loss, leaving the District 6 runner-up Panthers with a final record of 12-12 in Himmer’s second season.

Brady Wehner scored 13 points, Sam Weir added 12 and North Catholic dominated Penn Cambria to advance to the second round on Wednesday against District 10 champion Harbor Creek.

Sarah Loughry also scored in double figures with 10 points for the Trojans (23-4), the WPIAL’s third-place team.

North Catholic, which connected on eight 3-point shots, sprinted to a 34-12 halftime lead and ran off 15 consecutive points in the third quarter before Penn Cambria scored again with 1:52 left in the period.

Senior Addy Hite led Penn Cambria with eight points.

“We had a bunch of time with our younger girls and we really used that,” said Hite, one of the team’s three seniors. “They helped us throughout the whole season. We were together a lot. We became a family at the end of the season, and that’s including the coaches.”

Himmer, a former Penn Cambria boys assistant, wasn’t anticipating that his girls would wallop powerful North Catholic. But he’d hoped for a better outcome.

When asked if he had any preconceived notion of winning big, Himmer laughed and emphatically replied, “Noooooo!!”

Then what did he expect?

“Our whole goal was to come here and compete,” Himmer said. “Give us a chance in the last couple of minutes here to compete and have a chance. But that was probably the worst shooting performance of the year. In the first quarter alone, it seemed like maybe we had some shots, but nothing fell for us.”

Tagen McConnell and Ava Saleme join Hite as Penn Cambria’s outgoing seniors. McConnell, who scored five points, wiped away a tear as she recalled the time leading up to her final high school game.

“It was amazing just to drive out here 2 1/2 hours away. The adrenaline the whole way here was insane,” she said. “And then, we got here. I feel like we put up a fight, but we fell short.”

With a burst of energy, McConnell suddenly flashed a smile.

“I’m not going to look back and be like, ‘Yeah, we lost.’ I’m going to look back and be like, ‘It was a great game.’ I think we all played to the best of our ability.”

It is the stuff that Himmer was talking about, things such as unexpected learning experiences along the way and at times applying more patience. Yes, those sort of intangibles.

After falling short of the PIAA playoffs in 2024 during a 12-11 season in his first year on the bench, Himmer seemingly entered this season without much expectation following the loss of nearly his entire starting lineup to graduation.

Instead, what he got was a ton of gratitude.

“I learned more from them this year in my coaching experience than I have in the last 20 years of my coaching experience,” he said. “I learned how to maybe interact with players instead of maybe being at a 10 when you talk to them. Maybe we need to be at a 5. And then, still take your time and explain, maybe, what you’re saying instead of assuming they know what you’re saying.

“You can yell at boys and motivate them. You can’t yell at girls and motivate them — for the most part, that is. You have to dial it down. You have to do more explaining, tell them to relax and take a breath. Yeah, I’ve grown as a coach. I’ve changed 100% by coaching girls. There is a significant difference. Before, I did more yelling than talking.”

PENN CAMBRIA (29): Fisher 0 1-2 1, Avery Lemaster 2 0-4 4, Ronan 1 1-4 4, McCoy 2 0-0 4, Hite 3 2-2 8, McConnell 2 0-0 5, Baney 0 0-0 0, Beard 0 0-2 0, Avayah Lemaster 0 0-2 0, Rabatin 1 0-0 2, Eckenrode 0 0-0 0, Marana 0 0-0 0, I. Bianconi 0 0-0 0, M. Bianconi 0 0-0 0, Rickens 0 0-0 0, Stipanovich 0 0-0 0, Davison 0 0-0 0. Totals — 10 9-13 31.

NORTH CATHOLIC (59): Wehner 5 0-0 13, James 2 0 0 5, Weir 5 0-0 12, Loughry 4 0-0 10, Reitz 1 3-4 5, Luff 0 0-0 0, Jones 3 0-0 6, Vislosky 2 0-0 4, Shoemaker 0 0-0 0, McDowell 2 0-0 4, Rushak 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 3-4 59

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria 6 6 7 10 — 29

North Catholic 17 17 19 6 — 59

3-point goals: Penn Cambria 2 (Ronan, McConnell); North Catholic 8 (Wehner 3, Weir 2, Loughry 2, James).

Records: Penn Cambria (12-12); North Catholic (23-4).