Mirror photo by Nate Ritchey Central Cambria's Delaney Snyder (4) defends Our Lady of Sacred Heart's Lola Garner during second quarter action.

EBENSBURG — Central Cambria’s Katie George is a matchup problem for nearly every team she plays against.

The junior proved to be entirely too much for Our Lady of Sacred Heart to handle on Friday night in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A state playoffs.

George had 19 points at the half, which was one less than OLSH had as a team, including a pair of 3-pointers that broke a tie game a little over midway through a second quarter and spearheaded CC to never trail again.

The Lady Red Devils used a strong run to end the opening half and then took complete control of the contest in the third quarter with its pressure, getting in the passing lanes and overall defensive mentality en route to a 54-27 victory over the Lady Chargers on their home court.

“I practice those shots every day. I can’t even begin to count how many I’ve done,” George said. “It’s trusting my preparation and putting it to use. I know my teammates have confidence in me the same way I have confidence in them to shoot those 3s.”

Central Cambria, now 21-6, will face Karns City, the District 9 champ and a 37-24 winner over Seton-La Salle, on Tuesday at a site to be determined.

OLSH ended Central Cambria’s season last year in the quarterfinal round by a 47-43 final.

“I feel like that game haunted me a little bit as I think that was a winnable game for us,” Central Cambria coach Brittany Bracken said. “That was just a kind of a game that slipped away from us. I watched that film recently and tried to learn from my mistakes to think of things that we could do differently so this one would be a better outcome for us. We practiced really hard this week — kudos to my team, the whole team.”

The OLSH defensive scouting report had to read to not let George shoot from the outside, or anywhere for that matter.

However, on back-to-back possessions, George was open from 3-point range, and the junior made the Lady Chargers, the sixth seed out of District 7, pay by knocking both down to make the score 25-19.

“We were running the floor and Katie found an opening, Cam (Matlin) got the ball, and it was a very quick pass. I don’t even think the defense had time to react,” Bracken said. “Great shots by Katie and great pass by Cam.”

George delivered a game-high 26 points but also ripped down eight rebounds and had three blocks and three steals as well.

The Lady Red Devils, the District 6 champs, turned a 19-19 tie in the second stanza into an 11-1 run to claim a 10-point advantage heading into the half.

Central Cambria’s Gianna Grimaldi knotted the game for just the second time when she received a pass in the lane, turned and made a flip shot off one leg at the 3:59 mark of the second stanza.

Following the George triples, OLSH got a free throw from Rowan Winter before CC got a 3-for-4 showing from the foul line by Alaina Long and a Grimaldi bucket with four seconds left to head into the break up 30-20.

The pause in the contest did nothing to slow down the Red Devils, but rather it allowed for an increase in intensity on the defensive end, which kickstarted the offense.

In addition to the prior 13-1 run in the final four minutes of the second quarter, Central Cambria’s reeled off 11 straight to begin the third frame as four turnovers paved the way.

“It (forcing turnovers) was definitely at the top of the list (of priorities),” George said. “I know that’s what we’re really good at as we’re all quick, fast and can guard anyone. I’m very proud of the girls in the press that we were able to get those steals and turn them into points.”

Delaney Snyder’s trey at 4:57 put CC up 41-20. Winter finally got the Chargers on the board with a free throw line jumper to snap the Lady Red Devils’ run.

That was short-lived as the jumper was the only basket OLSH was allowed in the third.

When the Central Cambria defense wasn’t coming up with six takeaways in the stanza, it was forcing the Lady Chargers into quick shots or causing them to miss altogether.

Following the Winter shot, a Camryn Matlin 3-pointer with 3:00 to play jumpstarted an 8-0 to end the quarter as George had three and Makenzie Hite’s basket in the lane put CC up 49-22 after three quarters of action.

“I feel like our defense got us a couple of steals, got us rebounds and some secondary break points,” Bracken said. “Once we were running the floor I feel like we had the momentum, and we I feel like we never let it go.”

Rowyn Ruddek’s shot from downtown nearly two minutes into the fourth kicked the mercy rule running clock into effect as the score read 52-22.

For the game, Central Cambria forced 20 turnovers, nine of which were steals, had seven blocks and owned a 27-13 advantage on the boards with nine coming on the offensive end.

“They (Central Cambria) did a great job of getting into passing lanes in their half court pressure,” Our Lady of Sacred Heart coach Don Eckerle said. “I thought that was one of their strengths there.”

The evening began with Our Lady of Sacred Heart recording nine of the first 12 points as Shae Trombetta’s layup had her team up 9-3 at the 4:46 mark.

George, who accounted for the first three for Central Cambria, got a spinning layup and two free throws at the front end of a 10-0 spurt which had the Devils up 13-9 on George’s layup.

A Winter layup and deep shot by Lola Garner with 18 ticks to go put OLSH back in front 14-13 at the end of the opening quarter.

George’s layup 22 seconds into the second stanza put CC back ahead before the two teams traded baskets with Camryn Hummel, who led OLSH with 12 points, scoring and George getting inside again to put her team on top.

“She (George) is a hard matchup for us,” Eckerle said. “She had a great game as she is a very well-skilled player.”

Hummel delivered a triple at 4:56 to give the Lady Chargers their last lead of the night at 19-17 before Grimaldi, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds, answered a minute later with the off balance shot.

OUR LADY OF SACRED HEART (27): S. Trombetta 1 0-0 2, Daeschner 1 0-0 3, Hummel 5 0-0 12, Garner 2 0-0 5, Winter 2 1-4 5, M. Trombetta 0 0-0 0, Goshen 0 0-0 0, Grayson 0 0-0 0, Schmitt 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals –11 1-4 27.

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (54): Alexander 0 0-0 0, Grimaldi 3 2-2 8, Ruddek 1 0-0 3, George 10 3-4 26, Long 2 3-4 7, Snyder 2 0-0 5, Hite 1 0-0 2, Matlin 1 0-0 3, Neves 0 0-0 0, McQuay 0 0-0 0. Totals — 20 8-10 54.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Our Lady of Sacred Heart 14 6 2 5 — 27

Central Cambria 13 17 19 5 — 54

3-point field goals: Our Lady of Sacred Heart 4 (Hummel 2, Daeschner, Garner); Central Cambria 6 (George 3, Ruddek, Snyder, Matlin).

Records: Our Lady of Sacred Heart (19-8); Central Cambria (21-6).