HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Cambria Heights girls had been looking forward to Monday’s game for a long time.
Maybe too long.
The Highlanders struggled early before getting their offense going in the second half of Monday’s 58-36 victory over Bellwood-Antis in a District 6 Class AA first-round playoff game at Hollidaysburg Senior High School.
“I think we shot the ball much better in the second half, and I think we just relaxed,” Cambria Heights coach Lee Stanek said.
“Our group of seniors have bigger goals, and we came out and tried too hard, I think.”
Stanek said the seniors have been waiting for this game for nearly a year.
“They pretty much said last year they want to play well into March,” he said.
“That’s been the goal all year. I think they started thinking about that and played not to lose instead of playing to win in the first half.”
Seventh-seeded Cambria Heights (16-6) led 21-19 at the half before outscoring the No. 10 Blue Devils
(14-8) by 20 points in the third quarter.
“We actually scored
25 third points in the third quarter,” Stanek said. “We only scored 21 the entire first half.”
Senior Miranda Zeanchock led the Highlanders with 17 points while classmate Kristy Gwizdak had 11. Seniors Alyssa Anna and Maria Pompa combined for 17 more points.
“We’re pretty balanced,” Stanek said. “We had two in double figures and one with eight and one with nine. It’s hard to stop just one of us because I have six kids that can score.”
Amanda Grannas and Alycia Hippo each had 10 points for Bellwood-Antis.
Cambria Heights will play at second-seeded Ligonier Valley in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
