Lady Trojans hold off Fort Cherry for 50-43 playoff win
California鈥檚 Makayla Boda scores in front of Fort Cherry鈥檚 Ava Menzies after coming up with a steal during Tuesday night鈥檚 WPIAL playoff game at California. Boda scored a game-high 23 points in the Lady Trojans鈥� 50-43 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
California鈥檚 Jordyn Cruse lets fly with a 3-pointer against Fort Cherry as time expires in the second quarter during Tuesday night鈥檚 WPIAL playoff game at California. The shot went in to give the Lady Trojans a 24-22 halftime lead and they went on to win, 50-43.
California's Rakiyah Porter lofts a shot against Fort Cherry during Tuesday night's WPIAL playoff game at California. Porter scored 15 points in the Lady Trojans' 50-43 victory.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
California players rejoice after a 50-43 victory over Fort Cherry on March 2 in a WPIAL playoff game at California.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
California鈥檚 Makayla Boda dribbles past Fort Cherry鈥檚 Raney Staub during a WPIAL playoff game at California on March 2. Boda was chosen to play in this year鈥檚 Roundball Classic.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
California coach Chris Niemiec talks to his player during a timeout in a WPIAL playoff game against Fort Cherry at California on March 2. The Lady Trojans won, 50-43. Niemiec has decided to step down as coach after three seasons.
COAL CENTER 鈥� Makayla Boda had been in this situation before.
The California senior played well in two tight playoff games a year ago so another close battle against Fort Cherry on Tuesday night didn鈥檛 faze her at all.
Boda scored a game-high 23 points and made several key plays in the second half as the Trojans pulled away in the final minutes for a 50-43 win over the Rangers in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round battle.
鈥淲e went through that last year, too,鈥� Boda said. 鈥淚t helped me a lot. Last year we won one game by one (36-35 over Greensburg Central Catholic) and lost one by two (43-41 to Clairton).鈥�
鈥淢akayla is used to this,鈥� California coach Chris Niemiec said. 鈥淎gainst Greensburg last year and against Clairton she really took over the game.鈥�
Boda admitted she鈥檚 rarely in a relaxed state before tip-off.
鈥淚 get nervous before the game but once I get into the game it鈥檚 like 鈥榞ame mode,'鈥� Boda said.
Eighth-seeded California advances to play at top-seeded Neshannock, a 70-40 winner over Aliquippa, in a quarterfinal match-up Friday at 6 p.m.
The Trojans (11-3) held a 32-30 lead after three quarters but Dana Sinatra鈥檚 basket tied it for Fort Cherry early in the fourth.
Boda followed with back-to-back steals, one leading to teammate Rakiyah Porter making one of two free throws and the other leading to Boda sinking a pair of foul shots for a 35-32 lead.
Porter followed with a 3-pointer to put California up 38-32 with just over four minutes remaining.
The ninth-seeded Rangers (10-10) battled back. A steal and layup by Emma Blinkenderfer and a basket by Sinatra whittling to gap to 40-38 with 2:23 left.
Ca鈥橫ari Walden, who dominated on the boards for California, showed her passing ability with two key assists, one to Boda for a layup and another to McKenna Hewitt inside for a basket to stretch the gap to six with 1:15 remaining.
鈥淪he did amazing,鈥� Niemiec said of Walden. 鈥淪he passed the ball well. The last two field goals we had were off of good passes from Ca鈥橫ari at the top of the key. She鈥檚 the big and we鈥檙e young after that with not a lot of experience. She has a large load to lift.鈥�
From there the Trojans put the game away at foul line. Porter, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:27 left, came right back to swish four in a row and Boda made two in the closing seconds to cap a perfect seven-for-seven night at the charity stripe.
Niemiec cited his team鈥檚 playoff experience as the deciding factor in the win.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what turned the balance in the end,鈥� Niemiec said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a young team and they haven鈥檛 been in the playoffs and we鈥檝e been there a lot. When you play a lot of close games in the playoffs the experience is what wins you the games.鈥�
Porter, a freshman, followed Boda in scoring with 15 points and Cruse added 10.
鈥淩akiyah stepped up really big tonight offensively,鈥� Niemiec said.
Annika Rinehart led Fort Cherry with 16 points. Sinatra and Blinkenderfer had nine and eight points, respectively.
Rangers coach Clarence Edwards felt his team missed too many easy shots.
鈥淭he layups,鈥� Edwards said. 鈥淭he goals were to simply finish layups, win the boards and limit the turnovers. We just didn鈥檛 finish. Our defense played well.鈥�
California played without one of its top scorers, Kendelle Weston, who was ruled ineligible for the postseason after transferring from Monessen following last season.
鈥淚f she was here it would鈥檝e been a different game,鈥� Boda said. 鈥淏ut we still played as hard as we could and I鈥檓 really proud of us.鈥�
Niemiec agreed that the Trojans missed Weston鈥檚 shooting.
鈥淭hey went to a zone and we couldn鈥檛 expand it as much as we would鈥檝e liked,鈥� he said.
California led 16-11 after the first quarter and went up eight on a 3-pointer by Cruse early in the second quarter.
Fort Cherry answered with an 11-2 run to take a 22-21 lead before Cruse hit another 3-pointer just before the buzzer to put California ahead 24-22 at halftime.
鈥淭hat was huge,鈥� Niemiec said. 鈥淭hey would鈥檝e had the lead going into halftime and I think that kind of brought everything back and calmed them.鈥�
California would never trail again.
Rinehart tied the game with a basket early in the third quarter but Boda came up with consecutive layups off steals to make it 28-24 and the Trojans took a 32-30 advantage into the final quarter.
鈥淪he鈥檚 battling shin splints,鈥� Niemiec said of Boda, making her performance even more amazing. 鈥淓very timeout she鈥檚 down with the trainer. She just runs like crazy.鈥�
Niemiec lauded his team for its defensive play.
鈥淲e help out in the middle and we really pressured their guards,鈥� Niemiec said. 鈥淚f they beat us to the hoop we had help waiting for them so we were being aggressive, taking some chances out front, causing some turnovers.鈥�