In 2008, Lady Devils coach Brittany (Sedlock) Bracken was a senior for a Northern Cambria team coached by current Lady Highlanders coach Eric Thomas.

“She was definitely a leader for us,” Thomas said. “She was a leader on the court. I saw from her ninth-grade year, she played a lot as a freshman and improved a lot. She started out more like a guard, and then we had to move her down to the post and work on post moves. She was just a player that worked super hard and put loads of time in the gym to make herself better.”

Bracken led the Lady Colts in scoring that season, averaging 13.8 points per game, as Northern Cambria went 29-2, defeated Bishop McCort in the District 6 Class 2A championship game and made it all the way to the PIAA championship game.

“When (Northern Cambria) made those playoff runs in 2008 and 2010, those were some great memories,” Thomas said. “Her year in 2008, we were a good team, but I don’t think anyone expected us to make the run we did. We upset (Bishop) McCort, who was loaded back then, in the district final and Brittany was a big reason for that. Brittany and her cousin (Jen Valeria) were seniors, and then we started three sophomores (Breanna Kochinsky, Janae Dunchack and Ariel Rocco), and eventually all five of those girls scored 1,000 points, but Brittany’s leadership that year we made that run was crucial.”

Bracken is still leading players, but now as a coach. Central Cambria is the defending District 6 champion and won two state playoff games under Bracken last season before narrowly missing a berth in the semifinals.

“It’s very surreal,” Bracken said. “It’s definitely something I am extremely grateful for, and I don’t want to take it for granted. It’s a big deal making the district championship, and to have the opportunity to have made it last year and this year and the added bonus of playing against my high school coach, who I also was fortunate enough to make the game with back in high school, I am very grateful.”

Matching up against Cambria Heights and Thomas, who upset second-seeded Marion Center to make Friday’s final at Mount Aloysius, set to tip off at 6 p.m, has stirred up memories for Bracken.

“I was going through our playoff run that we made at Northern Cambria with Coach Thomas and just going through the teams that we beat and how exciting it was,” Bracken said. “I was definitely taking a trip down memory lane. I know my mom has some old scrapbooks and photo albums that I am interested in looking back through too. This is bringing a lot of good memories back, for sure.”

Thomas coached Northern Cambria through 2010 and got the Lady Colts back to the state final that season before he retired as a high school coach to focus on his family. He returned to the bench last season and led the Lady Highlanders to the state playoffs in his first season back.

“I had five kids, including twins that are now 16,” Thomas said. “They were just born when I was finishing up coaching. It’s kind of ironic that Brittany has twins now too. It was a case of timing, because I had, at that time, four young kids then the fifth one, and it was just a lot. I wanted to spend time with them and work with them.”

Bracken, who coached last year’s playoff run while pregnant with her twins, said the memories created during her time at Northern Cambria played a role in her decision to become a coach.

“I always enjoyed going to practice during my high school career,” Bracken said. “I loved my team. I loved my coaches, and I look back on it with fond memories. The reason I became a coach is because I want to create those same good memories for my players that years down the line, they look back and think the same thing.”

Thomas, who is also the principal at Cambria Heights, has a team that has some parallels to Bracken’s 2008 Northern Cambria team with seniors Kinley Rogal and Markie Bender providing leadership to three younger starters — Lilly Karlheim, Brienna Kirsch and Julia Karlheim.

He knows his team is the underdog on Friday, but that’s a position both he and Bracken are familiar with from their time at Northern Cambria.

“I’m really proud of everything (Bracken has) accomplished,” Thomas said. “They made a deep run last year and won the district finals. They are obviously the favorites, and she’s obviously a very good coach, so it’s just nice that we have those memories together. Those were some great times. We shocked a lot of people, and I’ll never forget that. That was back when there were only four classifications too, so it was even a little tougher back then.”