EBENSBURG — Katie George makes Central Cambria a different team.

Her inside presence certainly appears to make a difference in several ways.

The junior scored a team-best 18 points as she led the Red Devils to a 51-45 victory against Everett in the Dodson Electric “Light Up The Holidays” girls’ basketball tournament at Central Cambria Middle School on Tuesday.

“Katie does a great job inside offensively and defensively and communicating in general. She has a lot of experience from the previous two seasons, and the girls look up to her as a leader on the court,” Red Devils coach Brittany Bracken said.

George had 34 points in victories against Penns Manor and the Warriors. She also blocked five shots and made four steals in the tightly contested game.

George takes immense pride in lending a disruptive presence inside the lane.

“If I’m not hitting shots, that’s always something I can do, try to disrupt the other team’s flow on their offensive end,” she said.

“They outsized us a little bit in almost every position, but we did a really good job of playing tough basketball on the defensive end,” Everett coach Keith Moyer said.

Three-point field goals by freshman Emma Ritchey gave Everett its first and largest lead, 18-14 with 5:52 left in the second quarter. Ritchey led all players with 19 points. Senior Jade Colledge added 16 points.

“Everett came ready to play. Every time we went on a run they answered. It was a battle to the end,” Bracken said. “I think we played well. There are always struggles during the game. Basketball is a game of ups and downs. I feel as though whenever we were down, we all did a great job of picking each other up,” George said.

Successive layins by senior Alaina Long in the last 1:12 gave Central Cambria its largest lead, 42-36, at the end of three.

Long finished the night with 10 points. Freshman Delaney Snyder gave Central Cambria strong minutes off the bench and contributed nine points. The game remained close through the end, at which time Central Cambria used a match-up zone defense that stymied the Warriors.

“Their match-up zone gave us a little bit of difficulty. But we missed shots. We got the shots we wanted. They just didn’t fall,” Moyer said.

“I thought my girls did a good job on the zone. They went out in the corners, and they were able to limit their 3-point looks. I also thought we started taking care of the ball more offensively, which limited our turnovers and their transition points,” Bracken said.

Once-defeated Penns Manor used a 17-0 run in the first half to assert command in its 47-32 victory against Portage in the third-place game.

The Comets took a 33-13 lead into the intermission.

“The second quarter got away from us. At halftime we had a really good talk, and I thought the girls came out really inspired and played with confidence in the second half,” Mustangs coach Lance Hudak said.

Portage finished the 2025 portion of the campaign in a tourney that included three schools that made the PIAA tournament last season.

“We knew this tournament was going to be a bear. We started with a very good Everett team. We played really well but lost in the fourth quarter,” Hudak said. “And for your effort you get Penns Manor.”

The Mustangs’ Kendall Bednarski (seven points) and Penns Manor’s Adia Lieb (12 points) made up the rest of the all-tournament team. Portage’s Britton Myher shared game-high scoring honors with the Comets’ Josslyn Bennet (13 points apiece).

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

EVERETT (45): Colledge 6 2-2 16, Wood 0 0-0 0, L.Levy 2 0-0 4, Bowser 2 2-2 6, E.Ritchey 8 1-2 19, Dadetto 0 0-0 0, Robertson 0 0-0 0, M.Levy 0 0-0 0. Totals — 18 5-6 45.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (51): Long 5 0-0 10, Alexander 1 0-0 2, Grimaldi 2 2-6 6, Ruddek 2 0-0 5, George 6 2-3 18, Matlin 0 0-0 0, Hite 0 1-2 1, Snyder 4 1-2 9. Totals — 21 6-13 51.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Everett 10 11 15 9 — 45

Central Cambria 11 13 18 9 — 51

3-point goals: Everett 4 (Colledge 2, Ritchey 2), Central Cambria 3 (George 2, Ruddek).

Officials: Tony Warynovich, Brandon Ashurst, Cory Theys.

Team records: Everett (7-1), Central Cambria (5-3).

CONSOLATION GAME

PENNS MANOR (47): Lieb 5 2-5 12, Bertolino 2 0-0 5, Bennett 6 0-0 13, Henry 3 1-2 8, Matko 0 0-0 0, Luther 2 1-2 5, Kuzemchak 2 0-0 4, Boston 0 0-0 0, Horn 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 4-10 47.

PORTAGE (32): C.Burkett 0 1-2 1, Myher 5 1-1 13, Bagby 0 0-0 0, Bednarski 2 2-2 7, B.Burkett 2 0-0 4, Irvin 2 0-0 5, Stancovich 0 0-0 0, Krestar 0 0-0 0, Burda 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-0 0, Myers 0 0-0 0, Noel 0 0-0 0, Offman 0 0-0 0, Sossong 0 0-0 0, Harsh 0 0-0 0. Totals — 12 4-5 32.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Penns Manor 15 18 8 6 — 47

Portage 8 5 12 7 — 32

3-point goals: Penns Manor 3 (Bertolino, Bennett, Henry), Portage 4 (Myher 2, Bednarski, Irvin).

Team records: Penns Manor (10-1), Portage (5-5).