Al. Sheehan
EBENSBURG — During the regular season, Central Cambria and Richland split two very competitive, hard-fought Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference girls basketball games.
But when the two teams met for the third time Monday night in the game that mattered the most, Central Cambria emphatically had its way.
The Lady Red Devils punched their first ticket into a District 6 championship game since 1998, and also guaranteed themselves a berth in the PIAA Class 3A state playoffs while doing so, by rolling past Richland, 69-44, in a District 6 Class 3A semifinal playoff game at the Central Cambria High School gymnasium.
Second-seeded Central Cambria (17-8) will meet undefeated and top-seeded River Valley in the district championship game Friday night at Mount Aloysius College.
Sixth-seeded Richland (11-12) will play on the road at fifth-seeded Cambria Heights in a winner-take-all third-place consolation game Friday night with a state playoff berth on the line.
River Valley earned its berth in the championship game by defeating Cambria Heights, 55-32, in Monday’s other semifinal matchup.
Monday night’s victory was a particularly sweet one for the Lady Devils and their coach, Brittany Bracken.
“This is huge for our program, making it to both the district championship game and getting a spot in the state playoffs,” Bracken said. “It has always been a goal of ours to make it to the district championship game, but we could never get past this round.”
Central Cambria had very little trouble clearing that hurdle Monday night. Led by senior guard Alaina Sheehan’s game-high 23 points, along with 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds from senior forward Keira Link, the Lady Devils broke out to a 34-26 halftime lead and took complete command of the game by carrying the third quarter, 20-7.
“We split two games with them during the regular season, and both of the games were real close,” Bracken said. “We really didn’t play our type of game in those earlier two games. Our goal tonight was to play our game, and to play fast.
“Kudos to my girls — they did a great job of executing what we wanted to do, and they came out at the start of the game with a lot of energy and played a complete basketball game pretty much from the start to the finish tonight,” Bracken added.
Sheehan, a four-year veteran, established a new Central Cambria girls basketball program record for career 3-point field goals in her team’s quarterfinal-round win over Mount Union last week. Counting her two 3-point field goals in Monday’s game, Sheehan now has 146. The previous school mark of 143 was established by 2016 graduate Taylor Boring.
“It’s an awesome accomplishment,” Bracken said of Sheehan’s 3-point girls school record. “Alaina has stepped in, and she has become a great player for us for four years.
“She has spent countless hours in the gym, working on her shooting, and all of her hard work has paid off,” Bracken said. “And, to top it off, she had a great night tonight.”
Sheehan scored 11 points in the third quarter, when Central Cambria put away Monday’s game. She scored two field goals that accounted for five points, and made all six of the free throws that she attempted in the quarter, which ended with Central Cambria holding a 54-33 lead.
“We expected it to be a tough game, and at halftime, we got together and all of players told each other that this is our game,” Sheehan said. “We know our potential, and we know how good that we can actually be.”
Sophomore Trinity Macey led Richland with 12 points and eight rebounds. Central Cambria made 31 of 40 free throws in the game, while Richland converted 12 of 17. The disparity in total foul shots taken by the two teams was annoying for Richland coach Paul Johnson, who felt that the officials were keeping his team on a particularly tight leash.
“I want to make it clear that (Central Cambria) is a heck of a team,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to take anything away from them — they earned this tonight.
“But it’s a serious problem when we aren’t given the chance to play even basketball,” Johnson added. “We put up as much of a fight as were allowed to give them tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Central Cambria girls team can savor its first appearance in a district championship game in 27 years, and they’re hoping to take the next step now.
“River Valley is undefeated, and we know that they will present a good challenge,” Bracken said. “We know they’re a good basketball team, and we will have to be ready to go. We want to keep rolling.”
RICHLAND (44): Marshall 3 2-4 8, Wise 3 1-2 7, Fetchko 0 2-2 2, Macey 5 2-2 12, Romang 2 3-4 7, Jakubowski 0 0-0 0, Ledika 1 2-3 5, A. Amenti 1 0-0 3. Totals – 15 12-17 44.
CENTRAL CAMBRIA (69): Link 3 8-11 14, A. Ruddek 1 0-0 2, Ab. Sheehan 1 2-2 4, Al. Sheehan 5 11-13 23, Long 3 2-3 8, George 2 4-4 8, Barra 2 3-3 7, R. Ruddek 1 1-4 3. Totals -18 31-40 69.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Richland 14 12 7 11 — 44
Central Cambria 21 13 20 15 — 69
3-point goals: Richland 2 (Ledika, A. Amenti); Central Cambria 2 (Ab. Sheehan 2).
Records: Richland (11-12); Central Cambria (17-8).
Officials: Clark Adelman, Jason Romagna, Klayton Heffner.