Warriors take down No. 1 seed
Everett jumps to big lead, moves to finals
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CLAYSBURG -- When a No. 5 seed beats a No. 1 seed in a semifinal matchup of any kind, someone is bound to take notice.
It's a good bet that after hearing about, and seeing, No. 5 Everett down No. 1 Central Tuesday night, 52-43, in the District 6 3A playoff game at Claysburg-Kimmel, Penns Valley will know about the Lady Warriors.
"We don't have a lot of experience in District 6," said Everett girls basketball coach Keith Moyer, whose club will play the Lady Rams -- 55-50 winners over Tyrone in the other semifinal matchup -- Friday night for the championship. "Central is a great team. They are 20-4 and they went through their conference with only one loss, but you know what, we are not that bad of a team either."
Everett (21-4), actually a District 5 team forced to play in D6, wasted no time in showing the Lady Dragons they meant business as it jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first 3:11 of the game. By the quarter's end, Everett was up 18-5, thanks to scoring from five different players -- Sydney Reffner, Madison Hicks, Kaitlyn Maxwell, Elizabeth Jay and Brooke Colledge.
"We came out with no fire and they came into the gym ready to play us," said Central coach Rob Mock, who noted that playing as the No. 1 seed is a lot different than being the underdog. "I like fighting from the bottom, but when you are the top dog, you have to be ready to fight every night. We are not used to that."
The second quarter was a more even affair, but Everett's 2-3 zone continued to cause problems for the likes of Cassie Mock, Erin Brumbaugh, Kylie Metzger, Jenna Mock and Maddi Metzler. The lead blossomed to 22-9 at the 3:20 mark on a Reffner layup, and a Maxwell foul shot with 12 seconds left in the half left it 25-14 Everett. Metzger had six of those 12 points.
"Not sure why we are playing zone," Moyer smiled. "We played 21 games in a row in man, and the last three in zone so who knows. We did not match up well inside with them so we went to the zone."
Coach Mock knew Everett would come out in that 2-3 zone but it still didn't matter.
"We watched them on film and I told our coaches they will show up in a 2-3 zone and sure enough, they did," he said. "We run our offense where we try to keep our bigs tight inside to get rebounds, but they were getting the rebounds. We got caught in their screens. We were not hedging their screens. Give Everett credit. We knew what was coming and we did not execute."
The third quarter was more of a low-scoring affair, but Central could not get the lead down to single digits. Cassie Mock hit a bucket with four seconds left in the quarter to cut the lead to 11, 34-23.
"Our kids listen so well and they are so coachable and so patient," Moyer said. "Central prides themselves on defense and we made them play defense for long periods of time in the first half. I think that wore them down in the second half."
The game turned into a foul shooting contest in the fourth quarter as Reffner herself went 11-for-16 from the line. She finished with 22 points. As a team, Everett was 19-of-39 in the game. They were 14-of-26 in the fourth quarter.
"We are going to spend a good hour shooting free throws Wednesday night," Moyer smiled. "We have really good kids who all contributed tonight. This was not just one person. We all scored in the first half and that gave us a comfortable lead."
Central out-scored Everett, 20-18, in the fourth quarter, but could never get the Lady Warriors' lead down to single digits.
"We looked at the matchups. We felt if we could handle Maxwell and Reffner, and Hicks has been playing well, but we liked our chances," Mock said.
Game notes: Brumbaugh, Metzler and Jenna Mock fouled out for Central. Colledge fouled out for Central. …Maxwell finished with 12 points. …Cassie Mock scored 15 for Central while Metzger added 10. …Central will play Tyrone in the consolation game.
EVERETT (52): Jay 0 2-8 2, Colledge 2 0-0 5, Reffner 5 11-16 22, Ewing 2 0-0 4, Nave 0 0-0 0, Bulger 0 0-0 0, Hicks 2 3-9 7, Maxwell 4 3-6 12, Croyle 0 0-0 0, Iseminger 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 15 19-39 52.
CENTRAL (43): C. Mock 4 6-9 15, Metzger 4 2-2 10, J. Mock 1 0-0 2, Brumbaugh 2 1-2 6, Metzler 1 1-2 3, Eicher 0 0-0 0, Longenecker 2 0-0 4, Smith 1 0-0 3, Oakes 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 15 10-15 43.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Everett 18 7 9 18 -- 52
Central 5 7 11 20 -- 43
3-point goals: Everett 3 (Reffner, Colledge, Maxwell); Central 3 (Smith, Brumbaugh, C. Mock)
Records: Everett (21-4), Central (20-4).
Officials: Tona Williams, Dave Pray, Steve Schaaf