HARRISBURG – Three games are on the books for the defending Mid-Penn Conference Commonwealth and District 3, the Class 6A champion of the Central Dauphin girls’ basketball team, and the future looks bright.
The Rams clicked on all cylinders in an interdisciplinary game against Cedar Cliff on Monday evening and recorded a 51:31 win in their home country.
And many Rams have paved the way to victory on this one.
Caroline Shiery was a scoring and relaxing presence in color. When Shiery was double or triple, he tossed the ball to Maddie LaFrance and Marlie Dickerson, who drained five trifectas between them.
In between, Izzy Vogel quickly threatened the Cedar Cliff’s offense and stole, resulting in layups. And in the fourth quarter, the Rams reserves also played with serenity.
“I was so pleased that we played defense without a foul and moved our feet in the right places,” said Randy Gambelunghe, Central Dauphin head coach. “Cedar Cliff is a well trained team, perhaps one of the best trained teams in District 3, and they made some things difficult. They rebounded and punched out, they denied Maddie. Our girls just share the ball so well that they are good teammates. “
THE STARS
Shiery finished the game with 12 points, two blocked shots and numerous assists, while he had to sit out in the fourth quarter.
At one point in the first half, the Liberty-hired 6-foot-3 junior center grabbed consecutive rebounds in the same possession before twisting their bodies in paint between two defenders for a hard-earned bucket.
“Caroline Shiery has changed all of her sportiness,” said Gambelunghe.
LaFrance, the 5-foot-9 senior point guard, finished the race with 9 points, all behind the arch. Vogel and Megan Cavoli finished with 8 pieces.
Cedar Cliffs point guard Eliana Hosey, who recently returned from an unknown injury, looked fine on the pitch and was the Colts’ top scorer with 5 points.
GAME DETERMINED MOMENTS
The Rams slowly came out of the gate at the end of the offensive but warmed up quickly and scored the last 12 points of the first quarter to take a 16-4 lead that quickly increased to 19-4 in the second verse.
Central Dauphin made an 8-2 run to end half-time and went into break with a 27-9 lead that increased from three to 44:16 at the end. Gambelunghe emptied his bank early in the fourth quarter.
Central Dauphin (3-0, 1-0 Commonwealth) will host Altoona on Tuesday and travel to Cumberland Valley for the Mid-Penn Conference game on Friday. Cedar Cliff (2-2, 1-1 Keystone) will host Mifflin County on Wednesday and travel to Hershey on Friday.
You said so
“Cedar Cliff is a very talented team and they are very prepared. This season we find that we can’t always be as prepared as we want, but we came out and in the end everyone came together. The break did it differently but everyone on this team is special and cares so much about basketball and is ready to do the job ”- Central Dauphin junior Caroline Shiery.
“We had good ball movement with lots of screens and everyone on the ground so it was nice to fire off shots. We are very proud of the defense, that’s for sure, the defense never leaves them, as long as we are proud of the defense the offensive will surely come ”- Central Dauphin Senior Maddie LaFrance.
“This summer you had two options with COVID: stay around and do nothing, or try to get better. The girls were dedicated and had people to work with them and they really worked their dicks off. You’ve definitely put the time and effort into getting better not just as a basketball player but as an athlete as well. Marlie Dickerson has matured beyond maturity, and players like Izzy and Maddie are coming back ready for maturity and leadership. And we have roleplayers like Megan Cavoli and Amelia Green that I trust. When you have that core, it’s really nice to work out. “- Central Dauphin head coach Randy Gambelunghe.
CENTRAL DAUPHIN 51, CEDAR CLIFF 21
CEDAR CLIFF (21): Eliana Hosey 2 1-1 5, Sydney Weyant 1 0-0 3, Bryn Cravener 0 0-0 0, Faith Joy 1 0-0 2, Kathryn Sansom 0 0-0 0, Meghan Schraeder 2 0 -0 4, Natalie Uibel 1 0-0 2, Emily Ford 0 0-0 0, Taylor Ferraro 1 0-1 2, Ryan Kaercher 0 0-0 0, Julia Hoffman 0 0-0 0, Samantha Reilly 1 1-2 3. TOTAL 10 1-4 21.
CENTRAL DAUPHIN (51): Lauren Cavoli 0 0-0 0, Izzy Vogel 4 0-0 8, Megan Cavoli 3 0-0 8, Caroline Shiery 6 0-0 12, Alexis Buie 1 0-0 2, Marlie Dickerson 2 0 -0 6, Maddie LaFrance 3 0-0 9, Kennedy Cooper 0 0-0 0, Leah McGarvey 0 0-0 0, Alexis Ferguson 1 0-0 2, Amelia Green 2 0-0 4th OVERALL 22 0-0 51 .
Cedar Cliff – 04 05 07 05 – 21
Central Dauphin – 16 11 17 07 – 51
Fouled out – None; 3 Point Goals – Cedar Cliff: Weyant; Central Dauphin: M. Cavoli (2), Dickerson (2), LaFrance (3); Rebounds – Cedar Cliff 13, Central Dauphin 26.
