Bednarski

THREE SPRINGS — Sixth-seeded Portage entered halftime up 17 points on Southern Huntingdon, the third seed.

Lady Mustangs coach Lance Hudak knew a second-half run was coming from the Lady Rockets.

The spurt definitely came as Southern dwindled the lead down to five twice in the fourth before Portage, though not perfect, made enough free throws down the stretch to pull out a 54-45 victory on Wednesday night in District 6 Class 2A quarterfinal action.

“I knew Southern was going to come out in that third quarter and they were going to make a run,” Hudak said. “They can shoot the crap out of the ball and they did. They’ve got great kids over there and they made that run. But we were able to calm down, get to the foul line and make many more in the second half than we did in the first half. That’s learning how to win.”

The Mustangs will travel to second seed Bishop McCort, a 74-23 winner over Claysburg-Kimmel, on Monday in a semifinal matchup set for 7 p.m.

Portage missed a few shots and a pair of free throws in the early stages, while the Lady Rockets got two easy layups within the first nearly two minutes.

However, that’s when Kendall Bednarski caught fire as the junior drilled three 3-pointers to spark 12 unanswered by the Lady Mustangs.

Portage, despite turning the ball over six times in the first frame, used a 16-2 burst after being down 4-0 to take a 16-6 lead after the opening eight minutes of action.

“They (Portage) run that motion offense and it is tough (to defend),” Southern Huntingdon coach Shawn Young said. “Our man-to-man defense is designed to shut down the paint. When they are hot, they’re hot. That’s the unfortunate thing about our man-to-man defense is if they’re on, they’re probably going to light you up and they did early.”

The Lady Mustangs pressure defense created havoc for the Rockets as they forced eight turnovers in the second stanza.

Southern got within seven points twice (16-9 and 19-12) before Portage closed the opening half on an 11-1 spurt to take the 30-13 advantage at the midway point.

Bednarski tallied 21 of her game-high 30 points in the first two quarters.

“She’s the focus of every opponent’s intentions as she should be,” Hudak said. “The one she hit from way out right before the half with a girl in her face, I said, ‘ KB, you’re on tonight. Let’s keep going with it’.”

The Southern Huntingdon run Hudak warned his team about came almost instantly out of the locker room.

The Mustangs’ six miscues helped pave the way for the Rockets to trim the lead down to seven points (37-30) with a 17-7 burst of its own following a 3-pointer by Laney Peterson.

Britton Myher reeled off six straight points for Portage on three trips down the floor to push the score to 43-30.

However, two foul shots from Ella Young, who led the Lady Rockets with 14 points, and another trey from Peterson made it an eight-point difference through three quarters of play.

Southern Huntingdon tried its hardest to come all the way back but were only able to close to within five points on two separate occasions (43-38 and 45-40).

The full-court pressure of the Lady Mustangs kept them out in front as they forced nine Southern turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“We are a high-octane offense but when we pass the ball to the other team and have more turnovers than points, what do you do,” Coach Young said.

Ella Young’s layup with 3:20 remaining were the last points Portage allowed before Young hit a triple with 50 seconds left.

Portage, which connected on just 3-of-10 shots from the foul line in the first half, went 9-for-14 in the last three minutes to help seal the game.

“To be in the final four of the district is a special feeling,” Hudak said. “Tonight was the whole body of work that they put forth this year. We’ve taken losses but we’ve looked back and reflected on who we have lost to. We haven’t lost to anybody with a losing record — these are good teams we’ve lost to, and we’ve beaten great teams with great records. The losses you take in December and January, they build you for tonight.”

Southern finished up at 17-7 while the Lady Mustangs improved to 13-10.

PORTAGE (54): Bagby 0 0-6 0, Myher 3 2-6 9, Bednarski 9 6-6 30, C. Burkett 0 7-10 7, B. Burkett 2 2-2 6, Irvin 0 0-0 0, Burda 0 0-0 0, Stancovich 0 0-0 0, Krestar 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 0-2 2. Totals: 15 17-32 54.

SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON (45): Peterson 4 0-0 11, E. Young 3 6-11 14, A. Young 1 1-2 3, Clark 3 2-2 10, Hull 3 0-0 7, Walters 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0-0 0, Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9-15 45.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Portage 16 14 13 11 — 54

So. Huntingdon 6 7 22 10 — 45

3-point field goals: Portage 7 (Bednarski 6, Myher); Southern Huntingdon 7 (Peterson 3, E. Young 2, Clark 2).

Records: Portage (13-10); Southern Huntingdon (17-7).