By Derek Pyda

Eagle Staff Writer

WINGATE, Centre County — It takes a special kind of effort to keep North Catholic from finding a groove on offense, but Wyomissing pulled it off Saturday afternoon.

Against the Spartans' zone defense, North's drives and open cuts to the basket were limited and the Trojanettes resorted to 3-point attempts for much of the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal playoff. It added up to a 61-46 loss at Bald Eagle High School that ended North's season.

"We tried to attack the gaps in their extended zone," said North coach Molly Rottmann. "We worked against it in practice, but facing it for real in a game is much different."

Wyomissing, champion of District 3, enters Tuesday's semifinal against Blackhawk with a perfect 28-0 record.

Saturday's outcome was in stark contrast to last year when these same two teams met here in the same round and the Trojanettes dismantled Wyomissing, 60-27.

"Things did not go well for us last year, but seeing our girls respond the way they did today, they played wonderfully on offense and defense," said Wyomissing coach Aaron Anders. "North Catholic is as good a program as there is in Pennsylvania and I'm proud of our kids."

The Trojanettes trailed 29-22 at the half, but there were points in the third quarter when it seemed the team was on the verge of gaining valuable momentum. One such sequence came with just under five minutes left when freshman Lauren Reitz completed a 3-point play to pull North to within 33-28.

But the Spartans, led by center Amaya Stewart, reeled off a 10-2 run to push the team's lead to 43-30 by the end of the period.

Stewart had scored seven points in the first half, but ended the game with a team-high 24 and 12 rebounds. She hit all nine of her free throw attempts in the second half.

"I thought we played well against her for much of the game, but we lost track of some of their other players," Rottmann said.

Brady Wehner and Alayna Rocco both drained treys early in the fourth quarter to make it 43-36 and North attempted to change the pace of the game by pressing on defense, but Wyomissing's response was firm. Twice in the final period as the Trojanettes tried to rattle the Spartans, the latter broke through the press to find Audrey Hurleman wide open for a clutch layup.

Hurleman (10 points) and Annie McCaffrey (13 points) combined to provide valuable scoring support for Stewart.

"Audrey does such a good job of putting pressure on opposing players defensively, the fact that she's scoring now is a big reason why we're moving on," Anders said.

Stewart did her part with 11 points in the final quarter to help Wyomissing reach and maintain its double-digit lead down the stretch.

During a nearly 11-minute span between the third and fourth quarters, North did not make a 2-point field goal. It did drain eight treys in the game, five from Rocco and three from Wehner, but they simply were not enough.

Wehner and Reitz, both freshmen, scored 11 points and 10, respectively, for North. Rocco, in her final high school game, netted 20 points.

North (19-8) won its seventh WPIAL title in eight years this season.

"I know it's cliche, but you have to enjoy the journey," Rottmann said. "If you focus just on the destination, you're missing so much. Our girls did an amazing job this year."

NORTH CATHOLIC 46

Brady Wehner 4 0-0 11, Alayna Rocco 6 3-4 20, Sarah Loughry 2 0-0 4, Lauren Reitz 2 6-7 10, Lauren Mihm 0 1-2 1, Anna Lazzara 0 0-0 0, Lyndsay Luff 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 10-13 46.

WYOMISSING 61

Audrey Hurleman 4 2-5 10, Annie McCaffrey 5 3-4 13, Kacey Maggs 2 0-0 4, Amaya Stewart 7 10-11 24, Karly Hyde 2 1-1 5, Mary Anders 1 0-0 3, Abigail Noey 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 16-21 61.

North Catholic 11 11 8 16 — 46

Wyomissing 11 18 14 18 — 61

3-point goals: North Catholic 8 (Rocco 5, Wehner 3); Wyomissing 1 (Anders).