Cal can’t make its point against North Catholic
CANONSBURG – Almost every phase of the California High School girls basketball team’s play continued to draw praise Wednesday night.
The Trojans, fresh off the first state tournament win in school history, controlled the pace of their PIAA Class A playoff game against WPIAL runner-up Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic. They outrebounded the Trojanettes. Cal attempted more shots than their opponent. And the sagging man-to-man defense that was so effective in the first-round win over Venango Catholic held North Catholic to 23 points under its season average.
The only problem for California was that basketball is still a game that is decided by points. On this night, the Trojans had a much more difficult time than expected putting the orange ball through the orange rim, and the struggles on offense led to the end of Cal’s highly successful season.
North Catholic forwards Mary Casamassa and Samantha Breen combined for 31 points as the Trojanettes defeated California 36-26 in a slow-paced second-round game at Canon-McMillan High School.
The win sends North Catholic (22-6) to the quarterfinals Saturday against District 6 champion Blairsville, a 51-39 winner over Quigley Catholic.
California (25-3), meanwhile, is left to ponder what happened to its shooting touch and what a few more baskets might have done to the outcome of this game.
“You’re not going to win a game in the state playoffs by scoring 26 points,” California coach Chris Minerd lamented.
Cal was held to seven points or fewer in each quarter, yet trailed by only 13-12 at halftime and 22-19 after three quarters.
In a methodical, plodding game, a couple of baskets could have swung momentum, that fickle friend of basketball teams, in California’s favor.
Instead, the Trojans were held to only 11 field goals. They were 3-for-15 from three-point range and made only one of three free throws.
“We got some good looks; the shots just didn’t fall,” Minerd said. “(North Catholic) has played here and we didn’t, so maybe they were used to the rims.
“We knew this would be a 10-point game or so. We wanted to hold them to 40 or 45 points, and we held them to 36. Only three people scored for them. We played well enough on the defensive end, but we didn’t have enough offense. We tried some different combinations to generate offense but nothing worked.”
A banked in three-pointer by Casamassa, an athletic 5-10 freshman, and basket from the lane by Breen to close the first quarter gave North Catholic a 10-7 lead. Only three baskets were made in the second quarter. A three-pointer by Bailey Vig tied the score and Lyndsey Huhn’s drive and scoop shot gave Cal a lead. Breen, however, made a three-pointer and North Catholic took a 13-12 advantage into the locker room.
“I give Coach Minerd a lot of credit because they did a good job on us defensively,” North Catholic coach Molly Rottman said. “They clogged the lane and did a good job with the man-to-man.”
North Catholic’s Abby Goetz made a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, giving the Trojanettes a 25-19 lead.
“We were struggling offensively, then Abby hit a three that got us going,” Rottman said.
Kylie Huffman, who had five points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots, went to the offensive boards for a basket for Cal, but Casamassa and Breen each scored from the lane to push North Catholic’s lead to 29-21. A three-point play by Casamassa made it 32-23, and then Cal was forced to extend its defense and foul down the stretch.
North Catholic made only 6 of 13 free throws in the game, but that was enough as California was unable to generate enough offense to fuel a comeback.
Huhn led Cal in scoring with nine points. She is one of several seniors who must be replaced, but Minerd has a strong core of players returning, so the good times might not be over at Cal.
“When you walk off the floor 25 out of 28 times as winners, any coach will take that,” Minerd said. “Our kids played their hearts out. We get a lot coming back. Kylie Huffman was basically playing on one leg because of injury this year, so she should be 100 percent next year. I’m looking forward to what she does. I fell we have a couple of good years ahead of us.”