Lady Rams defense shines in win over CM

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: January 8, 2024

By Kenny Varner

LOCK HAVEN – Monday night, defense took center stage when the Penns Valley girls basketball team traveled to battle Central Mountain.

Both teams showed shut down ability throughout the entire contest.

In the end, the Lady Rams would make enough plays to muscle out a hard-fought 35-25 win over the Wildcats.

Penns Valley’s Ellie Romig and Central Mountain’s Camdyn Weaver were both high scorers with 11 points each.

“We really focused on our defense. We arched some film from our game last Friday. We told them we needed to fix a few things,” said Penns Valley coach Terrence Green. “It was a great job by the girls. They stuck to our game plan noticeably the little things do matter. I told the girls this is our best game so far.”

Penns Valley led in the rebound department as the Rams had 11 different players pull down a rebound while the Lady Wildcats had eight different players.

Penns Valley out rebounded Central Mountain 31-17.

Central Mountain got four points each from Elise McKean and Keely Rohrbach.

Penns Valley’s Elle Dinges second high scorer for her team with seven points.

Rounding out the leading Rams scorers were Kayla Hopkins and Jadyn Alexander with 4 points each.

“To be honest this is a game where they just outplayed us in every stretch of the game,” said Central Mountain head coach Scott Baker. “They were more physical than we were. They knocked down a few shots in the first quarter alone. We missed four lay ups. They played good defense tonight.”

Things were tightly played in the first quarter.

Central Mountain’s Camdyn Weaver was almost unstoppable as she was fearless in the lane posting seven of her seven in the period.

She took the opening tip and took it right in for an easy lay up.

Less than a minute later, Penns Valley tied things when Dinges stepped back and hit a long two.

Back came Weaver as she went back inside for her second field goal.

She added another point seconds later, stealing the ball and taking it to the hoop and was fouled in the act. She hit 1-of-2 giving her team an early 5-2 advantage.

Central Mountain again caused another turnover and this time they were add to their lead via an offensive put back by Keely Rohrbach, upping it to 7-2.

With one click of the wrist by Penns Valley’s Sydnie Dalton put her team back to within striking distance, posting a triple that hit nothing but net, at 7-5.

Weaver again was dangerous in the middle, scoring on two shots from the foul line.

The Lady Rams used the traditional give and go play to cut into the lead. The benefactor of the play was Romig, who hit the shot in the paint.

Penns Valley forced a turnover late and took the lead at 10-9 when Scotty Dinges squared up a posted her team’s second triple of the game.

But the Wildcats were able to tie the contest as the two went into the second stanza.

Penns Valley tightened its defense even stronger in the second as it was able to play a very opportunistic offense due to the stifling defense.

Offensively, the Rams were able to crank out 11 points while keeping the Wildcats to only four.

Elle Dinges led the charge, posting five. Romig followed with three.

Going into the intermission, Penns Valley extended its lead to 21-14.

Picking up points for the Wildcats in the second were Weaver and Elise McKean.

Coming into the third quarter, the Rams used its momentum from the second and kept the ball rolling and the defense on its game, holding Central Mountain to six points while the Rams added 12.

Leading 33-20 going into the final stanza, Penns Valley used a time consumed offense keeping the ball away from the Wildcats, slowing the pace down to benefit themselves.

However, the Wildcats were able to outscore the Rams 5-2 but it was too little too late as Penns Valley held on to the 10-point victory.

In JV action, the Lady Rams also were victorious, winning 49-29.

Penns Valley is back in action Wednesday as they travel to Bald Eagle Area’s. The Wildcats are back on the road Tuesday at Lewisburg.

Penns Valley 35, Central Mountain 25

PV 10 11 12 2 – 35

CM 10 4 6 5 – 25

Scoring: Penns Valley – Kayla Hopkins 2 0-1 4, Audrey Kerstetter 0 1-2 1, Sydnie Dalton 1 0-0 3, Lilly Smith 1 0-0 2, Scotty Dinges 1 0-0 3, Ellie Romig 5 0-0 11, Elle Dinges 3 0-3 7, Jadyn Alexander 1 2-3 4. Totals 14 3-9 35. Central Mountain – Elise McKean 1 2-2 4, Camdyn Weaver 4 3-4 11, Lena Walker 1 0-2 3, Keely Rohrbach 2 0-0 4. Totals 9 6-12 25.

Played but didn’t score: Penns Valley – Clara Brooks 0 0-0 0, Paige Johnson 0 0-0 0. Central Mountain – Grace Keahone 0 0-0 0, Ava Doyle 0 0-2 0, Morgan Temple 0 0-0 0, Jacey Tripp 0 0-0 0.

3-point shots: Penns Valley – Dalton, Scotty Dinges, Romig, Elle Dinges. Central Mountain – Walker.