Breen, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Too Much for Punxsutawney Girls

morgan-vanleer-punxsutawney
KITTANNING, Pa. (D9Sports) – WPIAL champion Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, the PIAA Class 1A girls’ state champion last year, outscored District 9 champion Punxsutawney by 21 points in the middle two quarters on its way to a 59-29 win in the second round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs Thursday night at Armstrong High School.

(Photo: Morgan VanLeer had 7 points in the loss for the Lady Chucks)

The Lady Chucks (19-5) trailed by just six, 12-6, at the end of the first quarter but couldn’t contain North Catholic’s Sam Breen, who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds including 15 points and seven board in the first half alone.

“We said hey we have to do everything we can to try and stop Breen,” Punxsutawney head coach Mike Carlson said. “She’s a great player. She wasn’t the Gatorade Player of the Year for nothing. We threw everything we could at her, but it didn’t slow her down much. She has such a great supporting cast. When we took her out down low, they had players on the outside who can knock down threes. We just knew it was going to be an uphill battle.”

Thanks in part to Breen, the Trojanettes (25-2) led 27-13 at halftime and wasted little time putting the game away in the third quarter going on a 16-1 run in the first five minutes of the second half to open up a 39-14 lead.

“When we got down by 14 points at halftime against this team, we knew trying to mount a comeback probably wasn’t going to happen,” Carlson said. “When we controlled Breen, it was the other girl that went off in the third quarter.”

Elyse White led Punxsutawney with eight points with Morgan VanLeer adding seven. But leading scorer Leah Miller was held to five points and nine rebounds. She finished the year averaging 16.3 points and 15.0 rebounds per game.

“It was a great season,” Carlson said. “We were probably the District 9 favorites, so it was nice to go through the league undefeated again and get that district win. We did go a step farther this year with the state playoff win, and our seniors really stepped up when they needed to. Those younger kids over there really learned from the leadership the seniors showed.

“I’m very proud of my girls this year. It was a great season.”

Cardinal Wuerl North Clarion will take on Villa Maria in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Story by Shane Lux

NORTH CATHOLIC 59, PUNXSUTAWNEY 29

Score by Quarters

Punxsutawney 6 7 9 7 – 29
North Catholic 12 15 23 9 – 59

PUNXSUTAWNEY – 29

Alli Lunger 2 0-0 4, Elyse White 3 0-0 8, Kate Horner 1 2-2 4, Morgan VanLeer 2 1-2 7, Leah Miller 1 3-6 5, Toya Jones 0 1-2 1. Totals 9 7-12 29.

NORTH CATHOLIC – 59

Ashley Robbins 2 0-0 4, Sam Breen 12 0-0 26, Dani Short 1 2-2 4, Kylie Huffman 2 0-0 4, Tess Myers 4 2-4 12, Cassie Foster 2 0-2 5, Amanda Bucklew 1 0-0 2, Belle O’Hara 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 4-8 59.

Three-pointers: Punxsutawney 4 (VanLeer 2, White 2). North Catholic 5 (Breen 2, Myers 2, Foster).


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