Mirror picture by Patrick Waksmunski
Cambria Heights’ Julia Karlheim is defended by Troy’s Isabella Renzi on Friday.
PATTON — Momentum generally is a fickle think about any athletic contest, usually swaying forwards and backwards all through the course of a sport, and altering palms inside a couple of minutes to decisively sway the ultimate final result.
That was the case for Cambria Heights in its PIAA Class 3A first-round ladies basketball playoff sport with visiting Troy Friday evening.
After falling behind by seven factors within the first quarter, Heights battled again to take a four-point lead late within the third quarter, earlier than Troy put collectively a 12-point run that prolonged into the early minutes of the fourth quarter and propelled the Lady Trojans to a 42-31 victory on the Cambria Heights High School gymnasium.
Troy, the third-place finisher within the District 4 match, hiked its season file to 24-4 and made its three-hour journey from Bradford County price all the difficulty. Cambria Heights, the District 6 runners-up, dropped the curtains on a 16-11 season.
Troy executed a superb defensive sport plan and Heights transformed simply 11 of its 44 ground photographs for a 25 p.c clip, which Lady Highlanders coach Eric Thomas pointed to as an important issue.
Mirror picture by Patrick Waksmunski
Cambria Heights’ Brienna Kirsch pulls in a rebound by Troy’s Raelyn Woodward.
“We didn’t hit the shots that we usually hit, and part of the reason for that was that (Troy) implemented and executed a very good defensive strategy tonight,” Thomas mentioned. “To their credit score, they performed an awesome sport in opposition to us.
“We had trouble putting the ball in the hoop tonight, and that was the difference,” Thomas added.
Even so, Cambria Heights managed to take the lead, 25-21, by scoring 5 straight factors halfway via the third quarter.
A driving layup by junior Lilly Karlheim, and certainly one of two free throws from freshman Julia Karlheim, adopted by Julia’s putback bucket, gave Heights the 25-21 edge with 2:23 left within the third quarter.
Troy, which was led by junior Giana Renzi’s game-high 18 factors and sophomore Kyah Renzo’s 13, pulled itself collectively although, responding with the massive 12-point run that turned the sport within the Lady Trojans’ favor for good.
It was all a matter of his workforce regaining its composure, in line with first-year Troy head coach Steve Renzi, whose workforce advances to a PIAA second-round sport Tuesday evening in opposition to District 3 champion Trinity.
“We’re a very young team, and when we fell behind when our players didn’t believe that they should have fallen behind, they were kind of losing their minds,” Coach Renzi mentioned. “I called them over, told them to calm down and play the way that they know how to play, and they listened to me.”
Renzo scored from inside to kick-start the Troy rally, and sophomore guard Haidyn Watson’s 3-pointer from the proper nook gave Troy the lead for good, 26-25. Giana Renzi adopted with one other 3-ball from the proper nook after making a steal, staking Troy to a 29-25 lead after three quarters.
Troy scored the primary 4 factors of the fourth quarter, on a brief jumper by Giana Renzi and Renzo’s scoop shot from inside, giving the Lady Trojans a 33-25 benefit.
Heights, which didn’t have a single participant rating in double figures, might get no nearer than to inside 5 factors the remainder of the way in which, as Troy carried the fourth quarter, 13-6 to complete robust.
Lilly Karlheim’s 9 factors led Heights, which obtained seven factors from Julia Karlheim and 6 factors apiece from senior Kinley Rogal and freshman Brienna Kirsch.
Rogal, a veteran standout for the Heights workforce who was visibly bothered by a sore shoulder, grabbed 9 rebounds to share game-high honors in that class with Renzo.
Heights loses two senior leaders, Rogal and Markie Bender, who offered wonderful management for the workforce, which received 11 of its remaining 16 video games this yr and earned a spot within the District 6 championship sport.
Heights began three underclassmen — Kirsch, Julia Karlheim and Lilly Karlheim — who will entrance a stable returning nucleus for subsequent season.
“To get to where we got this year, especially with a young team, showed a lot of growth and maturity, and I’m super proud of this entire team,” Thomas mentioned.
TROY (42): Renzo 4 5-8 13, G. Renzi 6 3-6 18, Woodward 0 0-0 0, Mickley 1 1-2 3, I. Renzi 0 2-2 2, Watson 2 1-2 6. Totals – 13 12-20 42.
CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (31): Kirsch 2 0-0 6, J. Karlheim 3 1-3 7, L. Karlheim 3 2-4 9, Rogal 2 1-2 6, Bender 1 0-0 3, Adams 0 0-0 0, Abrams 0 0-0 0, Nelen 0 0-0 0. Totals -11 4-8 31.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Troy 13 6 10 13–42
Cambria Heights 8 8 9 6–31
3-point objectives: Troy 4 (G. Renzi 3, Watson); Cambria Heights 5 (Kirsch 2, L. Karlheim, Rogal, Bender).
Records: Troy (24-4); Cambria Heights (16-11).
Officials: Klayton Heffner, Denny Detwiler, Emma Musser.