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Delone Catholic pulls away from Lady Red Devils late

Photo for the Mirror by Matt Stricker Above: Central Cambria’s Cassidy Bezek tries to pull the ball away from Delone Catholic’s Brooke Lawyer.

LEWISTOWN — Delone Catholic saved its best for last in Monday night’s PIAA Class 3A girls basketball semifinal matchup with Central Cambria at Mifflin County High School.

An inside bucket by Central Cambria senior forward Jenna Bauer tied the score at 33-33 with just over five minutes left, before Delone Catholic used an 11-point run as a springboard to a 47-39 victory and a berth in Thursday night’s 6 p.m. state championship game at Hershey’s Giant Center.

The win puts Delone Catholic (25-4) into the state championship game against District 2 champion Dunmore. Central Cambria closed its outstanding season with a 20-8 record.

Delone Catholic coach Gerry Eckenrode, a 1969 graduate of Bishop Guilfoyle High School, said that his team stuck to its offensive game plan in the final five minutes.

“We believed in our offense, and we executed our offense well,” Eckenrode said. “We set good, solid screens, we hit the outside shoulder, and we did a great job of killing the clock at the end of the game.”

Delone also hit six of eight free throws in the final five minutes.

“They hit a couple big (field goals), and they were very good from the foul line,” Central Cambria coach Brittany Sedlock said. “We were in a position where we had to foul them, and with the way they shoot free throws, that’s not a position that you want to be in.”

Freshman guard Giana Hoddinott gave Delone the lead for good, 35-33, with an inside bucket off a feed from senior guard Riley Vingsen with 4:37 left.

A jumper from the key by junior guard Brooke Lawyer, who led all scorers with 16 points, staked Delone to a 37-33 advantage with 3:16 left.

“Coach (Eckenrode) told us to go out and run our offense,” Lawyer said of Delone’s game-ending strategy. “He didn’t want us shooting any 3-point shots. We ran what we had to run, and we got it done.”

After Hoddinott was fouled on a baseline drive, she converted one of two free throws to put Delone ahead, 38-33. Moments later, Hoddinott found Lawyer open with a nice pass underneath the basket and Lawyer scored with 1:33 remaining to give Delone a 40-33 lead.

Freshman guard Camryn Felix was fouled on two separate occasions, and converted all four free throws to give Delone a 44-33 lead with under one minute left.

Bauer, who tied junior forward-guard Cassidy Bezek for team-high scoring honors with 11 points for Central Cambria, drained a 3-pointer from the right corner with 29 seconds left to pull the Lady Red Devils to within 44-36.

Delone followed with one of two free throws from senior forward Bradi Zumbrum, and a field goal from Hoddinott, to open up a 47-36 lead, before senior guard Paige Wess hit a consolation 3-pointer in the waning seconds for Central Cambria.

“I thought we gave it our all,” Central Cambria senior guard McKenna Hayward said of the Lady Red Devils, who made their first-ever appearance in the PIAA state tournament semifinals. “We battled back and forth, but they just ended up on top. We knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game. They’re a great team.”

Delone used a seven-point surge to open a 25-16 third-quarter lead, but Central Cambria battled back and closed to within 31-29 at the end of three quarters.

Junior forward Liz Bopp’s 3-pointer and a driving bucket and free throw by Bezek tied the score at 29-29 before two free throws by Vingsen put Delone up by the 31-29 count.

After Felix scored from the paint to put Delone ahead, 33-29, Bopp’s putback pulled Central Cambria to within 33-31 before Bauer tied it, 33-33, with her field goal from the paint.

Central Cambria had opened a 12-5 first-quarter lead before Delone, which got 11 points and 12 rebounds from Zumbrum, used a 13-5 run to take an 18-16 lead at intermission.

“We had an incredible season,” said Bezek, who will be one of the team’s top returning players next year. “We have four amazing senior leaders (Hayward, Wess, Bauer and Sara Lockard), and replacing them next year will be one of the hardest things that we’ll have to do.”

Sedlock thanked her seniors and all the players on the team for an outstanding year.

“I’m very, very proud of this team,” Sedlock said. “They made it to the final four in the state, which is something that has never been done before (by Central Cambria). I’m very proud of them for the constant dedication and hard work that they’ve put in.

“They’ll remember this for the rest of their lives,” Sedlock said.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (39): Hayward 1 0-0 2, Wess 1 0-0 3, Bezek 4 3-4 11, Bopp 4 0-0 9, Bauer 4 1-1 11, Kudlawiec 1 0-0 3, Szapala 0 0-1 0. Totals — 15 4-6 39.

DELONE CATHOLIC (47): Vingsen 1 2-2 4, Lawyer 6 1-2 16, Hoddinott 3 1-2 7, Felix 2 4-4 9, Zumbrum 5 1-2 11, Wells 0 0-0 0, McCormick 0 0-0 0, Hughes 0 0-1 0. Totals — 17 9-13 47.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Cambria 12 4 13 10 — 39

Delone Catholic 8 10 13 16 — 47

3-pointers: Central Cambria 5 (Bauer 2, Wess, Bopp, Kudlawiec); Delone Catholic 4 (Lawyer 3, Felix).

Records: Central Cambria (20-8); Delone Catholic (25-4).

Officials: Brian Zimmerman, Josh Beddall, Tod Steese.

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