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By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- It wasn't the ideal start for the Penn Cambria Lady Panthers basketball team as they fell behind Central, 9-0, in the first quarter Wednesday night.
But once that early Lady Dragon outburst came to a halt, thanks to a Makenna McCoy jumper, the Lady Panthers' fortunes slowly, then quickly, changed.
Penn Cambria outscored Central, 38-17, in the middle frames en route to grabbing a 61-50 victory in the Reliance Bank Kiwanis Club Tournament.
"We've had a lot of sickness going through the team, we've had some ankle (problems), the girls have been going through some tough times," Penn Cambria coach Josh Himmer said. "They continue to buy in, and I can't give them enough credit for what they do."
Central answered an early Penn Cambria bucket with a layup from Morgan Knepp, and a bucket from Megan Diehl, to help fuel their high point of the night.
Diehl led the Lady Dragons with 16 points followed by Bralyn Ellis who registered 14.
The Panthers started to take over from there as Reagan Ronan put away a 3-ball early in the second quarter. McCoy would follow that up with a steal and lay-in to help stretch the lead to 20-12.
"Our girls played hard, they always do," Central coach Blake Over said. "They hit their shots, and we didn't. We were breaking the press and then we'd come down and miss a layup. It's hard to win when you don't execute."
Penn Cambria took a 25-16 lead into the locker room.
The Panthers' offensive outburst continued, and they took advantage of turnovers as Meghan Andersen scored 10 her 15 points, including getting a take away for the score as part of a 25-point third quarter for her team.
'I knew we were going to be deep, but I knew we had a lot of inexperienced girls, but we have a lot of athletic girls," Himmer said. "They're starting to come around here, and hopefully they continue to just keep growing."
Kaylee Harpster topped things off with a 3-pointer for a game-high 16 points for a 49-29 advantage after three.
"It seemed like every time we give the ball away, they'd come down and get a layup or kick it back out for a three," Over said. "We got our share of steals too, they just converted."
The Lady Dragons did make things interesting, though, in the fourth as an Ellis bucket early in the frame helped her team get as close as 10 points.
Both squads are going through transitions to new coaches this year. Himmer is in his first year while Over was promoted to the top job this offseason. Both coaches are holding positive outlooks with how their respective teams have handled the transition.
"I play a little different coming from (Jim Ronan's) system from the boys' side. The transition, its been different, but (the girls) are starting to get it," Himmer said.
Over had to deal with a lot of turn over recently.
"Anytime there's a new coach, there's going to be an adjustment," he said. "Unfortunately for these girls, there's been three adjustments that they've had to make … three adjustments in the last three years. It's not easy for them, but they are taking it in stride. They're doing a great job."
CENTRAL (50): Diehl 6 3-4 16, Dickson 4 0-0 10, Rhykerd 0 0-0 0, Knepp 2 1-3 5, Ellis 6 0-0 14, Boyles 1 0-1 2, Poet 0 0-0 0, Ripka 0 0-0 0, Benton 0 0-0 0, Imes 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 5-8 50.
PENN CAMBRIA (61): Ronan 2 2-2 7, I. Andersen 3 1-2 10, Harpster 7 0-0 16, Vinglish 0 0-0 0, Beck 2 0-0 4, M. Andersen 6 2-2 14, McConnell 0 0-0 0, McCoy 3 0-0 6, Saleme 0 0-0 0, Shoemaker 1 1-2 4, Lemaster 1 0-0 3, Baney 0 0-0 0, Stipanovich 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 6-8 61.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Central 12 4 13 21 -- 50
Penn Cambria 11 14 24 12 -- 61
3-point field goals: Central 5 (Diehl, Dickson 2, Ellis 2), Penn Cambria 7 (Ronan, Lemaster, I. Andersen 3, Harpster 2)
Records: Central (3-5), Penn Cambria (5-3).
Officials: Skip Dry, Brandon Hoover, Brad Martz.