By Pete Chiodo
CNHI News Service

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — Going into the third quarter, it appeared that the game was slipping away from the Cambridge Springs High girls basketball team.

After taking control 13-4 in the first quarter, the Lady Blue Devils' offense went February frigid, and their District 10 Class AA first round opponent, Wilmington, won the next two periods to cut Cambridge's lead to 24-21 with one final frame to play.

The Lady Blue Devils then decided that if they couldn't make shots, they weren't going to let Wilmington make them, either. And Cambridge went on to hold the Lady Greyhounds to just two points in the fourth while holding on for a 33-23 victory Wednesday night.

"They played hard," Wilmington coach Matt Fabian said. "We came into this game as the No. 14 seed. But I knew that we might be a number, I knew we'd have a chance in this game. I saw them on tape and I thought we matched up pretty well against them. And we did play well. We did match up well. We just couldn't get over that fourth-quarter hump."

That defense also kept Cambridge Springs (20-3) alive in the postseason. The Lady Blue Devils advanced to Saturday's quarterfinal round, where they will face North East, a 65-41 winner over Youngsville.

Cambridge Springs flashed that defensive ability early in the game, turning Wilmington (6-17) over six times in the first quarter while holding the Lady Greyhounds to just one bucket on eight attempts.

On the other end of the court, Camryn Schmidt had five points and four rebounds, and MacKayla Kurt added four points to give the Devils a nice early cushion.

The Lady Blue Devils then extended that lead to 16-4 in the second period after a free throw by Schmidt a bunny hop by Sabre Turner.

Yet, this is where Fabian sees, "the turning point in that game," he said. "We were down 16-4 in the second quarter. And we were either going to go and lose by 25. Or we were going to chip away and get back in the game. And that's what we did. We went on a little run."

Wilmington's Lexi Brumbaugh came off the bench and gave the Lady Greyhounds a spark, picking up a foul and making one of her two shots, and then following it up with a 3-pointer. Then Lauren Frederick took advantage of a Cambridge turnover and put up a bucket in transition, cutting the Lady Devils' lead to 16-10.

Amanda White kept Cambridge's head above water, knocking down a second-chance trey off an offensive rebound by Schmidt. Schmidt's contributions off the glass would be crucial in this game, as she had a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.

In the third quarter, the Lady Blue Devils' offense completely dried up. Not only did they turn the ball over five times, they also missed all seven shots from the floor. They recorded five points at the foul line with Schmidt sinking four and Kurt adding a fifth.

Meanwhile, Wilmington kept encroaching on Cambridge's lead. Brumbaugh — who led the Lady Greyhounds' offense with six points — sank another deuce, LingEr Williams bagged a 3-pointer and Ally Hahn added four points.

"We came out in the third and played great," Fabian said. "We knocked down shots, took care of the ball. We played lock-down defense."

Things were looking up for the Lady Greyhounds. But Cambridge went back to what had worked so well in the first quarter — smothering Wilmington on offense.

"We came out and I think we had five turnovers in the fourth," Fabian said. "We had that stretch where we went five or six possessions where we couldn't get a shot off, turned the ball over. It was just rough. It kind of got away from us."

The Lady Greyhounds eventually took 10 shots in the fourth. Only one of them fell in. That was a short jumper by Aryn Boyer with 1:07 left in the game. And by that time Cambridge was back in rhythm.

Schmidt had back-to-back buckets to start the frame. And Turner later added back-to-back field goals to stretch the Lady Blue Devils' lead back out to 10 points by the final buzzer.

(Pete Chiodo writes for the Meadville Tribune).