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By Steve Flinn
For the Mirror
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP -- Penn Cambria pressured the ball the entire game against WPIAL champion North Catholic but was not able to rattle the Trojanettes and lost 52-36 in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A girls basketball playoffs Tuesday night.
"We knew coming in that North Catholic was skilled. They're ranked one of the top teams in the state for a reason," Penn Cambria coach Keith Saleme said. "We hoped we could get them into foul trouble or even wear them down and maybe we would have had a different outcome."
The Lady Panthers (17-10) averaged over 28 forced turnovers per game this season, but only forced the Trojanettes (20-5) to commit 14 turnovers.
"We're going to pressure the ball for 32 minutes. That's who we are. It's in our DNA and we did that tonight," Saleme said. "(North Catholic) did a very good job of taking care of the basketball. We couldn't get to them enough with our pressure. They were one of the few teams we played this year that we didn't cause them to have 25 or 30 turnovers."
The Trojanettes took a 2-0 lead on a breakaway on the opening tip and never trailed in the game. They extended their lead to 7-2 but the Lady Panthers fought back and tied the game 15-15 toward the end of the first quarter on an Izzy Andersen 3-pointer off the bench.
"We knew we had a deeper bench than them and we wanted to keep the pressure on them. We are about 11 deep," Saleme said. "We wanted to put pressure on the basketball and make them play the full court. We wanted to wear them down."
North Catholic pulled away again in the second quarter and led 26-17, but Penn Cambria went on a 4-0 run to trail 26-21 at the half.
The Trojanettes led 40-32 after the third quarter. They went on a 5-0 run in the first minute of the fourth quarter to take a 45-32 lead and pulled away to put the game out of reach.
The Lady Panthers did not score in the fourth quarter until 90 seconds left in the game when Bailey O'Connell scored a layup in a steal. She scored four points overall.
"In the fourth quarter, it took us about six minutes to score our first basket," Saleme said. "When you play a good team like them and you're not making shots, it's going to be hard to beat them."
Junior Emily Hite led the Lady Panthers with 10 points. Saleme credited her for playing an all-around game.
"She does so many things every game, from rebounding to knocking down shots," Saleme said. "She took a charge, got shaken up, and gutted it out and came back into the game."
Although disappointed with the outcome, Hite felt the team played with effort.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game. We gave it our all, so I'm not disappointed with how we played," Hite said. "This was the toughest team we played this year. We couldn't hit shots."
Senior Daijah Lilly added six points and pulled down five rebounds.
"We pressed and played hard on defense," Lilly said. "We prepared to play them. They were able to finish their shots and we weren't able to finish our shots."
Abby Crossman scored seven points, Devon Cornell added four points and Marah Saleme added two points for the Lady Panthers.
Three Trojanettes scored in double-figures. Sophomore Alayna Rocco led all scorers with 16 points. Dacia Lewandowski scored 14 points and Tori Drevna added 15.
Saleme is now finishing his seventh year as head coach. This is the fourth year in a row the Lady Panthers qualified for the state playoffs and the first year they were knocked out in the first round. They jumped out to an 8-0 start but suffered a setback when four-year starter Bayle Kunsman was lost for the season with an injury.
"It took us awhile to build the program. We won our first district championship in 2019," Saleme said. "I'm extremely proud of our girls. I told them (after the game) this is what our Penn Cambria program is about. We're going to be one of the elite programs in the state."
PENN CAMBRIA (36): Lilly 2 2-5 6, B. O'Donnell 2 0-0 4, Saleme 1 0-0 2, Hite 4 0-1 10, Cornell 2 0-1 4, Crossman 3 0-0 7 Andersen 1 0-0 3. Totals - 15 2-7 36.
NORTH CATHOLIC (52): Rocco 7 0-1 16, Lewandowski 5 4-7 14, Waskiewicz 1 1-3 3, Peterson 2 0-0 4, Drevna 6 1-1 15. Totals - 21 6-12 52.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penn Cambria……………..15 6 11 4 -- 36
North Catholic……………..15 11 14 12 -- 52
3-point goals: Penn Cambria 4 (Hite 2, Crossman, Andersen); North Catholic 3 (Rocco, Drevna 2 ).
Records: Penn Cambria (17-10); North Catholic (20-5).