Greensburg Central Catholic girls pull away from Cambria Heights after tight 1st half
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Friday, March 7, 2025 | 9:48 PM
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Gribble (23) celebrates with Georgia Evans after Evans hit a 3-pointer against Cambria Heights during a PIAA Class 3A first-round game Friday at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Nolan Althof defends Cambria Heights’ Sienna Kirschduring a PIAA Class 3A first-round game Friday at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Rodriguez grabs a loose ball from Cambria Heights’ Markie Bender (left) and Kinsey Rogal during a PIAA Class 3A first-round game Friday at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Jayla Peterson scores over Cambria Heights’ Markie Bender during a PIAA Class 3A first-round game Friday at Southmoreland.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Gribble scores over Cambria Heights’ Gracey Vinglish during a PIAA Class 3A first-round game Friday at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Georgia Evans (11), Avery Jones (31) and Erica Gribble defend on Cambria Heights’ Sienna Kirsch during first round PIAA action Friday, March 7, 2025 at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Gribble fights for a rebound with Cambria Heights’ Sienna Kirsch (l) and Gracey Vinglish during first round PIAA action Friday, March 7, 2025 at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Nolan Althof (l), Erica Rodriguez (54) and Erica Gribble defend on Cambria Heights’ Sienna Kirsch during first round PIAA action Friday, March 7, 2025 at Southmoreland High School.
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Erica Rodriguez pulls down a rebound between Cambria Heights’ Sienna Kirsch and Maelyn Dutko during first round PIAA action Friday, March 7, 2025 at Southmoreland High School.
Ask them about the slow start. They’ll tell you how they finished.
Fresh off back-to-back championships, Greensburg Central Catholic avoided the proverbial WPIAL hangover by knocking off eight days worth of rust, relying on its star power and finally accelerating past Cambria Heights, 61-31, in a PIAA Class 3A first-round girls basketball playoff game Friday night at Southmoreland.
If GCC (22-5) was perturbed that it had to play at a neutral site because of having a small gym while other district champions got to play at home in the opening round, the Centurions took it out on the Highlanders (19-9), the third-place team from District 6 who trailed by only three at halftime (26-23).
“We haven’t played a game since last Thursday,” GCC coach Chris Skatell said. “No live action. We picked it up and found our game. Just like the WPIAL playoffs, the first game is hard. This was important.”
GCC advances to play Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (23-4) in Tuesday’s second round. GCC beat OLSH in the WPIAL semifinals 41-18.
Jayla Peterson scored 23 points, and Erica Gribble added 21 — Gribble made five 3-pointers and Peterson hit three — to pace GCC, which outscored the Highlanders, 35-8, in the second half, including 26-6 in the fourth.
Clingy from the onset, Cambria Heights faded as it managed just three field goals after halftime.
“GCC did a really nice job defensively on us in the third quarter,” Cambria Heights coach Eric Thomas said. “They are longer than us, and they rebounded well.”
Gribble, a Richmond commit, had 31 points, and Peterson added 16 in the WPIAL final, a 56-51 win over Shady Side Academy last Thursday at Pitt.
The junior tandem was unstoppable again.
In this game, Peterson had 11 in the first half, eight in the first quarter as GCC led 13-11.
“Jayla got us going early,” Skatell said. “She understands the game. She has that will.”
Gribble, who shook off two early fouls and had 13 in the second half, showed her shooting touch from long range.
“I think if our team sees one of us on fire, we’re fine,” Peterson said.
A close game early quickly burned out of control for the Highlanders.
Sienna Kirsch tied it 18-18 in the second quarter, and Maelyn Dutko nailed a 3 to make it 23-23 with 30 seconds to go in the first half. But the Highlanders went cold from there, while GCC picked up its defense to key a 14-0 run and stretch the advantage to 35-23 late in the third.
“For us, defense becomes offense,” Skatell said. “We needed to defend a little better, and we will.”
Gribble hit a couple of deep 3s, and Peterson made two layups, the second on a feed from Gribble, to make it 44-25.
“She was shooting 3 or 4 feet from the line,” Thomas said. “We knew what (Gribble) could do, but (Peterson) went off.”
The lead reached 30, pushing the state game into the mercy rule briefly in the fourth.
“The first (state game) is the hardest one to win,” Peterson said. “We practiced a week straight, and we were ready to play.”
Thomas, a principal at Cambria Heights, took over the girls basketball program about two weeks before the start of the season. The former longtime Northern Cambria coach will part ways with four seniors, including Kirsch, who had 20 points in her final prep game and ended her career with more than 1,600 to finish second in program history.
The rest of the team — two other girls — managed 11 points in the loss, with eight coming from senior Dutko, all in the first half.
“I am really proud of the girls, they played their hearts out,” Thomas said. “The seniors really came together. This year was fun.”
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Greensburg C.C.
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