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Girls still in the hunt for states

Indians must beat Central Cambria next

Sentinel photo by TAMI KNOPSNYDER
Juniata’s Julie Swartz looks to pass the ball during the second half of the Indians’ District 6 consolation game against Penn Cambria Monday in Hollidaysburg.

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Juniata coach Kevin Kodish said his team had to get over its recent offensive woes if it was to make any headway in the playoffs.

The Indians did just that Monday, beating Penn Cambria 57-44 in a District 6 Class 3A consolation game.

With the win, Juniata (23-3) advances to the fifth-place game against Central Cambria on Thursday. With a win, the Indians will secure a spot in the state playoff tournament.

After starting the season 22-1, the Indians seemingly went cold on offense, shooting 12 percent and 14 percent from the field in losses to Halifax and Everett.

“We were searching for answers, getting back our old selves tonight,” Kodish said. “We were covered by putting 57 up.”

The Indians were challenged point for point in the first half, but the promising note was the squad looked like the team of old, getting contributions from a number of girls and from all over the court.

It’s just what Kodish wanted.

“We ran into a hot Everett team … and there’s no shame in losing, but the margin we lost by was what we were concerned about,” Kodish said. “Tonight, we wanted to go out, redeem ourselves and get back in the win column. It feels real good.”

Thanks to a big second half, the Indians found that redemption.

Going into halftime, Juniata was holding on to the slimmest of leads, 23-22, but started the third quarter on a 9-0 run.

The separation was something Kodish said was critical knowing in the back of his mind the Indians had struggled offensively.

Juniata finished the third with 12 points, but defensively, looked much better, holding the Panthers to six points — the worst quarter offensively for Penn Cambria.

“We kept them in the locker room a while longer at halftime talking about the defense because we needed to bear down harder,” Kodish said. “We let them drive in the last two and half minutes of the first half. … We had to shut that off.”

The Panthers were trailing by just seven, and thanks to the physicality displayed all night, both teams had to play a little more reserved in the fourth quarter.

Combined, the two teams had six girls on the brink of fouling out, and another two with three fouls each.

“This was a very fast paced, physical, hard-nosed game,” Kodish said. “This was shoulder pad type game, but it was good. Both teams played hard.”

The Panthers went on a 7-1 run that spanned from the end of the third quarter to the beginning parts of the fourth. With the team in foul trouble and down late, they changed the style of play to go along with the Indians’ defense playing off some.

The Panthers went for 3-pointers, rather than drive to the hoop. As a team, they scored six 3-point goals — four of them coming in the fourth quarter.

Three shooters from Penn Cambria — Lexi Strasser, Laken Guzic and Makalyn Clopper — finished with double-digit points.

The Indians never relinquished their lead in the second half, and had managed to get contributions from six players — five of them scoring points in the big second half.

Josie Swartz was the biggest difference offensively, scoring a game-high 28 points. 11 of those came in the fourth quarter — nine from the charity stripe.

Kodish hopes the team can build off its offensive success for the fifth-place game.

“That progress we made tonight, that’s what we have to do,” Kodish said. “It’s going to be a very similar type of game Thursday, and we’re just happy to be playing.”

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