By HUGH CONRAD
EBENSBURG — To say that the Lady Colts of Northern Cambria came out running on Saturday would be an understatement.
Northern sprinted out to a 20-4 lead over Camp Hill, increasing that lead to 31-12 at halftime in a 59-37 victory in the PIAA Class A playoffs at Central Cambria High School.
Keying that run was senior Brianna Kochinsky, who scored eight first-quarter points and 15 of her game high 21 in the first half.
The Lady Colts, now 21-5, advanced to the PIAA state championship game two years ago, and the four seniors who started on Saturday remember what it takes to get there.
“We were really excited for this game,” Kochinsky said. “All of our experience from last year gave us a lot of confidence coming into it. It’s really comforting for us to know that we’ve been here already.”
That start was key against a Camp Hill team that was the third-place finisher in District 3.
“I think that (Camp Hill) scored the first four points in the game, and then we rattled off the next 20,” Northern coach Eric Thomas said. “I was really happy with our start. That’s a key for us all the time to try to get off to that fast start.”
The Lady Lions had problems dealing with the Northern defense, shooting just 2-of-10 (20 percent) in the first quarter and being whistled for five turnovers.
After Northern built its lead to 31-5 in the second quarter when Kochinsky hit a jump shot in the key with 2:54 left before halftime, the Lady Lions rattled off six consecutive points to narrow the Northern Cambria advantage to 31-12 at the half.
Camp Hill turned up its defensive intensity in the third quarter, forcing the Lady Colts into seven of their 17 turnovers.
The Lady Colts held a 45-23 advantage after three quarters, but Camp Hill narrowed that to 15 points when Emily Gilroy hit a layup with 3:45 remaining.
That was as close as the Lady Lions would come.
“It is (hard to sustain) especially with the kind of lead that we had,” Thomas said. “We talked about that in the second half; we wanted to keep the intensity, and I thought at times, we did get a little bit sloppy there in the second half. But, you have to give credit to them, too. They turned up their defense and their trapping.”
Kochinsky’s 21 points led the Lady Colts and Ariel Rocco and Janae Dunchack each added 12.
Gilroy led Camp Hill with 16 points.
Northern will face Nativity BVM, which defeated Lourdes Regional, Wednesday at a site to be determined.
