The familiar foes spent the first half trading runs with neither one able to completely separate from the other.

Then the second half began, and the Lady Panthers rode the late first half momentum they obtained by scoring the first nine points of the third en route to a 59-37 victory on Monday night at Tyrone High School.

“I gave them (Penn Cambria) some time off. I was in the army for 18 years, and I spent some Christmas’ away from my family,” Penn Cambria coach Josh Himmer said. “I think that family is the most important thing in the world, so I gave them four days off. … So, I think I’m the first half, we were still maybe getting our legs back to us. We weren’t quite ready for the game speed. They (Tyrone) are a very talented, so we weren’t quite ready for it.”

Bellwood-Antis defeated Central, both also LHAC members, by a 46-43 margin in the opener.

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Penn Cambria's Sophia Beard is pressured by Tyrone's Raylee Woodring (left) and Brielle Parker.

The Lady Dragons and Lady Eagles will square off in today’s consolation scheduled for 4:30, while PC and B-A will meet in the 7:30 championship.

Penn Cambria began the contest with the first nine points keyed by four from Sophia Beard, who finished with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds on the night.

Tyrone countered with a 10-3 spurt to get within two at 12-10 as Elise Volders tallied four.

Lily Gergley’s 3-pointer at the end of the first frame started an 8-1 spurt by the Panthers that saw them hold a 19-10 edge when Reagan Ronan hit a trey at 6:22.

The Lady Eagles punched back with an 8-1 run of their own fueled by five points from Lola Woomer, who collected 10 points on the evening, to knot the contest at 20-20 with 4:31 remaining in the opening half.

“One of our points of emphasis for tonight was to take better shots,” Tyrone coach Mike Whitling said. “I thought that we were getting some pretty decent looks. It was just a matter of whether or not you’re going to hit them or not.”

The game stayed scoreless for three minutes before Penn Cambria got a free throw from Avayah LeMaster, two from Ronan and a layup off her own steal by Rachel Fisher to give the Panthers a 25-20 cushion at the break.

PC buckled down a reeled off the first nine points of the third stanza with a balanced attack to push its lead up to 14 at 34-20 when LeMaster, who posted 10 points, made a foul shot at the 4:15 mark.

A quick five straight from Tyrone got the hosts back into single digits at nine (34-25) but that’s as close as it would get the rest of the way.

Two straight driving layups down the left side from Fisher, who led all scorers with 17 points, to close out the third put Penn Cambria up 39-27 heading to the fourth.

“In the second half, we talked about making minor adjustments — small things,” Himmer said. “Mental errors, switching defensively and talking a little better, and we did that.”

Fisher and LeMaster would account for five points apiece in a final quarter that the Lady Panthers left no doubt they weren’t letting Tyrone back into the game.

“I think we could have done a little bit better job of attacking their pressure,” Whitling said. “We did a pretty decent job of that in the first half, and you can see that in the fouls. In the second half, we did not get to the rim as much and we did not get into the paint as much. I think that really hurt us there.”

PC, which outscored Tyrone by a 34-17 score in the second half, doubled up the Eagles in the final eight minutes of action with a 20-10 scoring edge.

Penn Cambria also forced nine turnovers in the fourth and 14 total in the game-changing second half.

“That trap, we’ve got to live by it,” Himmer said. “We’re not very big and we’re not very long. But we’re super athletic, so we’re going to get after people.”

In the first game, Central took control in the first quarter, but Bellwood-Antis chipped away before holding on in the fourth for the victory.

Lilly Gerwert led all scorers with 23 points for the Lady Blue Devils.

Marah Diehl paced the Lady Dragons with 14 points, while Madeline Benton recorded 11.

PENN CAMBRIA (59): Ronan 2 3-6 8, McCoy 2 0-0 6, Ava. LeMaster 2 4-7 10, Beard 4 2-2 10, Fisher 7 2-4 17, Rabatin 0 0-2 0, Andersen 0 1-2 1, Ave. LeMaster 0 0-0 0, Gergley 1 2-2 5, Stipanovich 0 0-0 0, Davison 0 0-0 0, Rickens 1 0-3 2. Totals: 19 14-28 59.

TYRONE (37): Woomer 4 0-1 10, Crowell 1 1-4 3, Parker 0 0-2 0, Lehman 1 4-6 7, Volders 3 0-1 6, Woodring 4 0-2 9, Davis 1 0-0 2, Naylor 0 0-0 0, Harpster 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 5-16 37.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penn Cambria 15 10 14 20 — 59

Tyrone 10 10 7 10 — 37

3-point field goals: Penn Cambria 7 (McCoy 2, Ava. LeMaster 2, Ronan, Fisher, Gergley); Tyrone 3 (Woomer 2, Lehman, Woodring).

Records: Penn Cambria (6-2); Tyrone (4-3).

CENTRAL (43): Benton 5 1-2 11, Poet 0 2-2 2, Imes 2 2-3 6, Rhykerd 1 0-0 3, Long 0 2-4 2, Diehl 6 1-2 14, Parilla 2 0-0 5, Moses 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 8-13 43.

BELLWOOD-ANTIS (46): L. Gerwert 9 5-9 23, Sweigert 2 0-0 5, Cacciotti 2 0-0 5, Worthing 0 3-4 3, Sloey 1 4-4 6, Hammond 0 0-0 0, Plummer 1 2-4 4. Totals: 15 14-21 46.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central 11 7 11 14 — 43

Bellwood-Antis 5 14 13 14 — 46

3-point field goals: Central 3 (Rhykerd, Diehl, Parilla); Bellwood-Antis 2 (Sweigert, Cacciotti).

Records: Central (2-7); Bellwood-Antis (5-2).