Penns Valley girls’ basketball heading back to District 6 championship after win Tuesday
The Penns Valley girls’ basketball team is headed back to the district championship.
The Lady Rams pulled away in the final 90 seconds of regulation Tuesday night to knock off Central Cambria 53-45 in the District 6 Class 3A semifinals at Hollidaysburg. They will now face Penn Cambria in the district tile game at 6 p.m. Friday at Mount Aloysius.
“I can’t even tell you how thrilled they are to go back to the championship for the second year in a row,” coach Karen McCaffrey said. “It’s a real credit to them.”
Tuesday’s game was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Lady Rams trail 45-44 with a little over 90 seconds left in regulation. But the tide changed when Penns Valley senior Isabella Culver calmly nailed two free throws to give her team the lead before the Lady Rams forced turnovers on back-to-back possessions. They ended the game on a 9-0 run.
Culver was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final period and finished with a game-high 29 points and three steals. (“She was a beast tonight,” McCaffrey added.) Hannah Montminy added 10 points, Jordan Andrus recorded 10 rebounds, and Emma Butler was instrumental on defense.
Butler helped limit Central Cambria sharpshooter McKenna Hayward to just five points. And when Butler got in some foul trouble, Penns Valley’s Lydia Collison came off the bench and made sure there was no let-up.
“To hold her to five was just the key to the game,” McCaffrey said.
Other big contributors off the bench included Kennedy Welshans and Leah Beben.
Penns Valley wasn’t perfect on offense Tuesday night. But McCaffrey was pleased with the defensive effort — that’s been a Lady Rams staple all season — and joked with the team about that dynamic right after the game.
“Our shooting wasn’t great tonight, so I said I appreciated they saved that for Friday night,” she said with a laugh, alluding to the championship game.
Prior to last season, Penns Valley hadn’t won a district championship since 1989. Now, it has a chance to repeat — something this senior-laden class has been aiming for since the preseason.