Mar 7, 2015 4 min read

CLARION – California High School girls basketball coach Chris Minerd made a trip north last weekend to scout the District 9 Class A championship game in anticipation of his team facing the winner in the state playoffs.

What Minerd saw was a Venango Catholic guards Ava Homan and Taylor Moltz drive down the lane for basket after basket. The Vikings’ offense was the same from the start of the game to the end.

So when Minerd made a game plan for his team to stop Venango Catholic, he told his six-foot forwards Lyndsey Huhn and Kylie Huffman to play loose man-to-man defense and clog the driving lanes. The rest of the Trojans would harass Homan and Moltz on the perimeter.

The plan worked to perfection as California held Venango Catholic to only two points over a 16½-minute stretch and the Trojans overcame a slow start to win the PIAA first-round playoff game, 40-28, Saturday night at Clarion University’s Tippin Gymnasium.

It is the first state playoff victory in California history and advances the Trojans (25-2) to play WPIAL runner-up North Catholic Wednesday at a site and time to be determined.

“Our defense has carried us all year,” Minerd said. “The key to this one was clogging the middle. When I saw Venango Catholic play, they didn’t even look to shoot from outside. It was Homan and Moltz driving the lane.”

This time, there were no driving lanes. The middle of the California defense was a dead end.

Venango Catholic took an 18-15 lead on slow-starting Cal after a basket by Allison Guth with 2:46 left in the first half. Over the next 16½ minutes, the Vikings scored only two points, a basket off an offensive rebound by Moltz in the final minute of the third quarter. Venango Catholic’s next points wouldn’t come until 2:06 remained in the game.

“It wasn’t so much our execution that hurt us as it was their defense,” Venango Catholic coach Tom McNellie said. “Our game is putting the ball inside with our guards driving. We couldn’t do that with their big girls inside.”

Huhn and Huffman didn’t block many shots, but they altered plenty and stopped many drive attempts simply by occupying the lane.

“We play very good defense. Statistically, we’re one of the top defensive teams in the WPIAL,” said Huhn, a senior who scored 10 points, including the 1,000th of her career.

The only rough spot for California came in the first quarter. The Trojans fell behind the District 9 champions 9-2 before MInerd called a timeout to settle his team. Cal responded by getting the ball inside to Huhn for two baskets, which pulled the Trojans to within 9-6 and gave their senior her 1,000th point.

“Getting that mean a lot to me,” Huhn admitted. “My mother (Annette Ross) had chemotherapy on Wednesday and I didn’t think she would be able to make it to the game, but she did. It’s been a long two years for her, but to see her smile tonight made me happy.”

There were plenty of smiles from the California followers in the second half. After cutting Venango Catholic’s lead to 18-17 at halftime, Cal outscored the Vikings 8-2 in the third quarter – Bailey Vig made a key three-pointer – to forge a 25-20 advantage.

“I knew we couldn’t get behind against this team,” McNellie said. “From talking to other coaches, I knew they’d pull the ball out and make free throws if they took the lead on us.”

That’s exactly what happened. Venango Catholic, which gave Cal trouble with a sagging 2-3 zone in the first three quarters, went to a man-to-man in the fourth quarter. It enabled Cal to get to the free-throw line 11 times in the quarter and the Trojans made nine. Huffman, who led Cal with 16 points, was 7-for-8 at the line, all in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Vanango Catholic couldn’t solve the Trojans’ defense. The Vikings didn’t score in the fourth quarter until a layup by Moltz with 2:06 remaining cut the Trojans’ lead to 31-22. It was the Vikings’ second basket since the first half.

Homan, who averaged 18 points per game, was held to 10 on 3-for-15 shooting. Moltz, a 16-point-per-game scorer, had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but she took 18 shots.

“I was hoping the long bus ride and big arena would intimidate California,” McNellie said. “It didn’t.”