Sentinel photo by JEFF SHOMO Mifflin County's Payton Weaver drives past State College's McKenna Whitehurst on Monday night for a D6 semifinal game.

STATE COLLEGE — Meeting for the second time in less than a week, the veteran State College girls basketball squad played host to the young and up-and-coming Mifflin County club in the District 6 Class 6A semifinals on Monday night.

In their contest on Friday, the No. 3 Huskies rallied back in the second half but fell in the first contest at home 54-43.

No. 2 State College came out strong early on and built up a 21-4 halftime lead before extending the lead to a final score of 51-18.

“When we get down like that at times these girls have a tendency to get down on themselves and it sort of compounds it. So trying to come back from that and their physicality and speed like that is really, really difficult,” said Mifflin County coach Crystal Weaver. “One positive thing here is before this game we had only one girl on the team with any postseason experience. Mackenzie Peachey, our senior, was the only one on our team with postseason experience. So these kids don’t know what it takes. They don’t even know what a postseason is like. The amount of intensity and the physicality that’s involved in those games. So, that’s one thing now we can say is we have a little more experience with our team.”

“So, it’s just a stepping stone here. We’re starting to stay as positive as we can, but at the same time we have to take this loss, feel and build upon it. So next year we don’t feel this again.”

The game was a physical affair as both teams got in early foul trouble.

Mifflin County, playing in its first playoff game in three years had their chances, but the shots just weren’t hitting for them on this night. They got points from Payton Weaver and two from Jayda Kanagy in the first half.

State College had a consistent showing in both the first and second quarters.

State College was led by the tough sister combination of Sienna Wilson and Sheree Wilson, who finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Teammate Mackenna Whitehurst rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Lady Little Lions with 10.

Jayda Kanagy led the Huskies with six points in the contest.

Lily Curry had her chances as the team’s lone triple in the game came in the third quarter.

Trailing 21-4 going into the third, the Huskies seemed to settle in quickly as they got an opening jumper by Mackenzie Peachey.

But the high-tempo game of State came right back to hit a basket of their own within seconds.

State College made it 23-6 on a backdoor bucket by Whitehurst.

Mifflin County refused to go away without a fight as Peachey got loose and hit a shot in traffic and was fouled on the play, she completed the old fashioned three-point play and put Mifflin County to within 19.

But the State College offense got charged up thanks to a strong defensive performance resulting in the home team going on a 13-4 run to end the third quarter leading 40-13.

In the final stanza, Mifflin County was able to post five but State College continued its high-tempo run, giving them the 51-18 victory and a trip to Mount Aloysius for a chance to win the District 6 championship.

The Huskies finish their season 11-12.

State College 51, Mifflin County 18

MC 2-2-9-5–18

SC 10-11-19-11–51

Scoring: MC – Lily Curry 1 0-0 3, Peyton Weaver 1 0-0 2, Jayda Kanagy 2 2-5 6, Mackenzie Peachey 1 3-3 5, Leah Reed 1 0-0 2. Totals 6 5-8 18. SC – Deseray Mobley 1 0-0 2, Sarah Coudriet 1 0-0 2, McKenna Whitehurst 4 3-3 11, AllySwauger 2 0-0 5, Sheree Wilson 6 3-4 15, Sienna Wilson 7 1-1 16. Totals 21 7-8 51.

Played but didn’t score: MC – Mya Felmlee 0 0-0 0, Malaina Maxwell 0 0-0 0, Olivia Bedlyon 0 0-0 0. SC – Eliza Krasawitz 0 0-0 0, Kalie Hazel 0 0-0 0.

Three-point shots: MC – Curry. SC – Swauger, Si Wilson.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Westmont sinks Juniata, 64-30

JOHNSTOWN — In the District 6 Class 4A quarterfinal, No. 4 Westmont Hilltop breezed to a 64-30 home win against No. 5 Juniata on Monday evening.

For the Hilltoppers (12-8), Cali Lynch posted 20 points and Maggie Oneil tacked on 13. Audra Rudolph added 13 as well. Sarah Gibbons had seven points.

Westmont drilled seven three-pointers.

For the Lady Indians, Mylee Landis had 12 points and Lindsea Gilson added six points.

Juniata hit one three.

Juniata ends the year at 12-10.