By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

EBENSBURG — The Central Cambria girls basketball team entered Tuesday’s Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference showdown against Bishop McCort Catholic winners of five of its last six games.

The recent hot streak had the Lady Devils in the No. 2 position in the District 6 Class 3A playoff field behind only unbeaten River Valley.

But the Lady Crushers gave Central Cambria a reminder how fickle success can be this time of the year with a lopsided 58-41 victory.

“We told them we’d rather be challenged by a very good basketball team and learn from it than play someone and beat them by 40,” Central Cambria coach Brittany Bracken said. “McCort is a great team to play to prepare us for playoffs, and we definitely want to get a bad game like this out of the way before it’s do or die.”

Central Cambria fell behind by 10 early in the second quarter before an Alaina Sheehan 3-pointer trimmed McCort’s halftime lead to 27-24.

The Lady Crushers began the second half by scoring the first five points, which led to Bracken calling a timeout to plead with her team to show more urgency. Unfortunately, constant pressure by McCort proved to be too much in the third quarter as the Lady Crushers outscored Central Cambria, 20-4.

“Watching film, it looked like they didn’t like pressure,” Bishop McCort coach John Hahn said. “We tried to put as much pressure on them as we could. The (Katie) George girl is a shooter, but she likes to live in that corner. We told our big that’s where she was going to be and that she should help and when the ball goes over to her she had to get out to her. We knew if we pressured their guards, good things would happen, and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Ava Zucco, who scored a game-high 20 points for Bishop McCort, made a putback to start the fourth quarter and went ahead, 49-28, but the Lady Devils had one more run left in them.

George, who scored a team-high 18 points and had 12 rebounds off the bench, started an 11-0 run with two free throws, and Abigail Sheehan’s 3-pointer with four minutes to play cut McCort’s lead to 10.

But just before Sheehan’s shot, Hahn had called a timeout following a turnover against Central Cambria’s press. The adjustment worked wonders as the Lady Crushers got an easy layup from Zoey Ferguson after the Sheehan 3-pointer to quiet the gymnasium.

“First of all, I told them to slow down,” Hahn said. “We were going at a mega speed. We went over their 2-2-1 press, but usually it wasn’t aggressive. They kind of just let you bring the ball in, but they came with pressure. We just had to find the middle of the floor. Once we get it in the middle of the floor, we’re good to go.”

Central Cambria managed just two points the rest of the way and dropped to 12-6.

“We had a good spurt in the fourth,” Bracken said. “I just don’t think we played our best basketball tonight. I think we lacked energy and togetherness. Credit to McCort. They played a complete four quarters, and I felt like we were off tonight for whatever reason.”

McCort was playing without star senior Cami Beppler, who Hahn said should return for the postseason. Bishop McCort is 13-2 and is currently the top seed in District 6 Class 2A.

“We have been trying to add girls to the rotation to get them in,” Hahn said. “I started Reese Bair tonight, and that’s the first game she’s started this year. She’s a good shooter. I told her it was her time to shine. Belle Toth was a guard for me for three years, and I moved her to the five because she’s a strong kid — but she can step out and hit a 3-pointer. The more girls I can get into the flow, the better.”

Central Cambria will try to return to its winning ways on Friday at Bellwood-Antis.

“Going into tonight, we have had good energy and have been supporting and lifting each other up,” Bracken said. “We have been good teammates and played selflessly and together. We had different high scorers every night and didn’t really care who scored, and we played with the ultimate goal of winning as a team. I think our selflessness has been our strength going into tonight.”

BISHOP McCORT (58): Berkebile 3 0-0 6, Zucco 9 0-0 20, Ferguson 5 0-0 10, Preuss 2 0-0 6, Bair 1 0-0 3, Bailey 2 1-1 5, Toth 3 0-0 8, Wachs 0 0-0 0, Olshewsky 0 0-0 0. Totals — 25 1-1 58.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (41): Al. Sheehan 2 0-0 5, Ab. Sheehan 3 3-4 10, A. Ruddek 0 0-0 0, Long 0 0-0 0, Link 3 0-0 6, George 4 9-10 18, Barra 1 0-0 2, R. Ruddek 0 0-0 0, Hite 0 0-0 0. Totals — 13 12-14 41.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop McCort 14 13 20 11 — 58

Central Cambria 6 18 4 13 — 41

3-point goals: Bishop McCort 7 (Zucco 2, Pruess 2, Toth 2, Bair); Central Cambria 3 (Al. Sheehan, Ab. Sheehan, George).

Records: Bishop McCort (13-2); Central Cambria (12-6).

Officials: Jamie Boyles, Bryan Wasilewski, Bob Gongloff.

JV: Bishop McCort, 56-53 (OT). High scorer–Rowyn Ruddek, CC, 19.