Westmont Hilltop girls overcome sluggish start to defeat Penn Cambria 52-44
Mar. 3—CRESSON, Pa. — After turning the ball over 13 times in the first quarter, it was hard to imagine a more disastrous start for the Westmont Hilltop girls basketball team in Wednesday's District 6 Class 3A consolation game at Penn Cambria.
The Hilltoppers settled in during a pivotal second frame in which they took control of the physical contest and never relented in a 52-44 triumph.
"Starting the first quarter, it was really hard, but we had to keep our composure and then just keep going," said Westmont Hilltop freshman Christiana Gordon, who tallied a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds.
"After we got a lead, we started keeping it."
Wednesday served as a rubber match between the two Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference combatants. Each team won on their home floor during the regular season.
No. 5 seed Westmont Hilltop (15-9) will face the loser of Thursday's District 7 championship game between North Catholic and Freedom Area on Tuesday to begin the PIAA tournament at a site and time to be announced. No. 3 seed Penn Cambria (17-9) will meet the winner of that same contest.
Westmont Hilltop sophomore guard Beth Buettner nailed four 3-pointers and supplied 14 points off the bench.
Junior Emily Hite led Penn Cambria with 12 points.
A 17-2 spurt in the second quarter helped the Hilltoppers overcome their sluggish start.
"I told them, 'We need to calm down.' We played probably the worst quarter of basketball I've seen us play," Westmont Hilltop coach Brittany Eisenhuth said. "We had unforced errors, just throwing the ball out of bounds. Once we calmed down, we knew how to handle their press and we knew how to break it.
"We just had to hit the open person and be relaxed with the ball."
Penn Cambria was unable to capitalize more in the first quarter. The Panthers went 3-for-13 from the field and turned the ball over eight times.
"Honestly, it was more just getting outplayed than turnovers," Penn Cambria coach Keith Saleme said. "They got every loose ball and we weren't rebounding the basketball.
"When you do that against a good team, you get yourself in a hole."
Reserve Abby Crossman tallied four points in the first quarter as Penn Cambria led 10-5 after eight minutes.
A Gordon steal and layup started a run of four straight made field goals for the freshman. A Buettner triple capped a 10-0 run as Westmont Hilltop led 17-12 midway through the frame. Gordon compiled nine points, and Ella Brawley and Buettner each netted six to help Westmont Hilltop command the second frame with a 21-6 edge and 26-16 halftime advantage.
Westmont Hilltop began the third quarter with a 7-0 surge to lead 33-16. The slashing Gordon added eight more points and Buettner buried two more triples in the midst of a 9-0 spurt in the stanza. Westmont carried a 20-9 edge in the quarter to lead 46-25 heading into the fourth.
"Christiana, she is a great player," Eisenhuth said. "She had a rough game against Forest Hills (in Saturday's semifinal). She missed a lot of shots, but tonight, you could see how she grew just from one game.
"She finished tonight and hit some big shots."
Hite's trey brought Penn Cambria, which finished with 24 turnovers, within 51-40 with 1:21 left, but Westmont Hilltop prevailed despite turning the ball over 29 times.
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.
