High School Basketball

Lady Rangers extend legacy

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The Forest Hills girls basketball program has become synonymous with championships in District 6 under coach Carol Cecere, having won eight in the past 10 years. It's something Patrick Cassidy wants to do with his Huntingdon Lady Bearcats.

"They have been in this position before and we hardly ever get here," said Cassidy, who in his four years got Huntingdon to the District 6 4A semifinals last year, and the finals on Saturday where his team lost, 64-44, to the Lady Rangers. "We have to look at this as a learning curve. As bad as our girls wanted it, they can learn something from it hopefully."

What the defending champions learned early in Saturday's win was it had an advantage in size, depth and experience, but it still had to go out and perform according to its mentor, who is in her 24th season.

"You have to worry that they just start to expect to win, that they are just the Lady Rangers and that's it and they are going to win, but they have to work," said Cecere, who once experienced four-win seasons with a program that is now a state tourney participant on a yearly basis. "You have to be relentless. When we first started playing summer ball, we would learn from other teams and now we do the workouts to get stronger.

"And when you look in the stands, you see those little girls and they are watching every little thing you do. The parents of those kids are now choosing basketball."

Forest Hills, which will play the fifth-place team from the WPIAL, never trailed in a game it led, 10-2 early on. Huntingdon cut it to 10-7, thanks to baskets from Allie Troup and Kynnedy Miller, at the 2:32 mark.

That was as close as the Lady Bearcats got.

The Lady Rangers finished the quarter on a 13-0 run, keyed by 3-pointers from Victoria Koeck, Maddie Cecere and one from Taylor Burda at the buzzer for a 23-7 lead.

"It creates a lot of hassle for us because of our size," Cassidy said when asked about defending the 3. "We play a lot of press back to zone so they can stretch the corners on you. They have one-seven (girls) that can step back and hit a 3."

Cecere loved that her team hit 10 3-point shots, but doesn't want them to become too enamored with the shot.

"Everyone we play, the LHAC (Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference) teams know you. Huntingdon can watch us on film, but they don't see a lot of 3s on film. They play a lot of 1-2-2 zone, and we don't see a lot of that. We were not afraid to pull the trigger, but I don't want us to fall in love with that 3-pointer if it's not falling," Cecere said.

For Forest Hills' Carly Stigers, everything was falling early on. She exploded in the second quarter, scoring 12 of her game-high 25 points, 19 of which came in the first half. She hit four 3-pointers.

"Our girls gave it a good shot but they really showed up today, especially No. 25 (Stigers)," Cassidy said. "She starts like that … that can really put a damper on your mood and you could see that in our girls' body language."

Huntingdon scored 17 points in the second quarter, but then, the defense gave up 20, leaving the Lady Rangers in control at the break, 43-24.

"We watched a lot of film on them, and it was only a one-day turnaround (from the semifinal game) which actually benefited us," Cecere said. "We played one day, sat one day, ate pasta together as a team (Friday night) and then we were ready to go."

Troup wound up leading the Lady Bearcats with 13 points but Miller, who is the team's leading scorer, struggled, plus got in foul trouble early. She finished with eight points.

"You could tell they were trying to run us off the arc. They were really up in their man-to-man," Cassidy said. "Again, their athleticism, their length, their size makes it tough on us. Their big girls can bring the ball up."

Forest Hills outscored the Lady Bearcats, 21-20, in the second half.

"Their second quarter was probably their best quarter," Cecere said of Huntingdon. "And there were a couple of times where I would almost call a timeout but every time they scored, we would answer."

Despite the loss, Cassidy knows another opportunity awaits his team in the form of a first-round WPIAL opponent, the loser of the District 7 title game.

"I would have to check the last time Huntingdon won a first-round state playoff game, but I am not sure it has happened often," he said. "We still have an opportunity. Our girls played hard. Maybe we can do that for another game or two."

HUNTINGDON (44): Miller 3 1-4 8, A Troup 6 1-5 13, McElroy 2 4-7 8, Reamer 2 2-2 6, Kurtz 1 2-4 4, R. Kyle 0 1-2 1, DeForrest 0 1-4 1, L. Troup 1 0-0 3. Totals -- 15 12-28 44.

FOREST HILLS (64): Stigers 7 7-8 25, Stohon 2 0-0 4, J. Smith 2 1-2 6, Cecere 1 3-4 6, V. Koeck 2 2-2 7, Croyle 1 0-0 3, Stains 0 0-0 0, L. Koeck 0 0-0 0, Debias 0 1-2 1, Vitez 0 0-0 0, R. Smith 1 0-0 2, Burda 3 0-0 8, Zajdel 1 0-0 2, McGough 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 20 14-18 44.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Huntingdon 7 17 8 12 -- 44

Forest Hills 23 20 13 8 -- 64

3-point goals: Huntingdon 2 (Miller, L. Troup); Forest Hills 10 (Stigers 4, Burda 2, Croyle, Cecere, V. Koeck, J. Smith)

Records: Huntingdon (14-9), Forest Hills (20-3)

Officials: Clark Adelman, Randy Burket, Jack McDougal