Mountain Ridge holds off Catoctin, 44-42

Feb. 15—FROSTBURG — In a game featuring two of the top teams in Maryland Class 1A, No. 2 Mountain Ridge held on to defeat Catoctin 44-42 on Wednesday.

"It was an ugly game, but sometimes you gotta win ugly games to keep moving forward," Mountain Ridge head coach Todd Snyder said. "That's one of the best teams in the state of Maryland. For us to come through and get a victory, I'm proud of the girls."

The Miners (18-3) led by 12 points in the fourth quarter, but the Cougars (17-3) rallied late, cutting Mountain Ridge's lead to one possession.

Leading 31-25 heading into the fourth quarter, the Miners opened the period with four unanswered scores.

Reghan Sivic scored on back-to-back possessions, scoring a put back to go up 38-26 with 6:35 remaining.

Up 42-31 with less than 90 seconds to go, the Miners were on the fringe of letting the win slip through their grasp.

On several inbounds, Mountain Ridge committed turnovers that led to two quick scores by the Cougars.

"Lack of focus and just understanding situations," Snyder said. "We didn't understand the situation we had at hand. We couldn't run the baseline a couple times. A couple of our passes went directly at our feet."

The second turnover led to a layup by Brooke Williams that cut the Catoctin deficit to 42-37 with 46 seconds left.

Less than 10 seconds later, Samantha Orndorff set up Kelsey Troxell for a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game with 36 seconds to go.

With exactly 16 seconds remaining, Rhegan Lamberson hit a pair of free throws to push the Miners lead back up to four points.

In the final seconds, Taylor Smith banked in a long jumper off the side of the backboard to make the final two-point margin.

Smith led all scorers with 16 points, getting 13 in the second half including nine in the fourth quarter,.

In the first half, the story of the game for both teams was defense. Neither team shot over 33% from the field in the first half.

Catoctin struggled to make shots, especially inside the paint. The Cougars missed several layups and seemed to only hit open shots.

Catoctin shot 7 of 25 (28%) from the field in the first half and committed 13 turnovers.

"The defense has been pretty tight the last couple games," Snyder said. "I'm really proud of the girls for that. Knowing they were gonna do a lot of cutting and rolling, I thought we shut that down."

For Mountain Ridge, the story of the first half was its lack of confidence in shooting.

On the majority of possessions, the Miners kept passing the ball around, passing up on open shots.

It led to two shot clock violations in the first half. Mountain Ridge also committed 13 turnovers in the half.

"Everything was around the perimeter," Snyder said. "No one was going to the inside. That's not the way our offense is set up."

After a shot clock violation on Mountain Ridge, Catoctin capitalized with a 3-pointer by Kayden Glotfelty with 13 seconds remaining before intermission.

It capped an 8-3 run by the Cougars to end the half, cutting the deficit to 17-15.

Catoctin quickly retook the lead in the third quarter when Grace Williams converted an and-one put back and hit the ensuing free throw.

The Miners tied it at 23 on a layup by Kealana Pua'auli off a Sydney Snyder assist with 4:55 left in the third quarter.

Pua'auli had a big third quarter, especially on defense. She recorded three steals in the quarter, forcing three of the Cougars' eight turnovers.

She finished with a team-high 13 points, adding five steals and three assists.

"She stepped up her defense," coach Snyder said. "We usually put her on the best player on the other team. She found a weakness from their point guard and was able to stick her hand in there and get a couple poke outs."

Pua'auli assisted Sivic on a layup that gave Mountain Ridge a 25-23 lead with 3:55 left.

Sivic scored 10 points, all in the second half with a steal.

Sydney Snyder entered the game averaging 18.6 points, tied for fourth-best in the area.

She did not score in the first half as the Cougars' relentless defense ensured she was guarded man-to-man at all times.

"It seemed like every single one of their girls was worrying about it," coach Snyder said. "We knew that coming in, the pick and roll was going to be there. But we weren't taking advantage of it."

Snyder finished with nine points and four assists.

In Mountain Ridge's previous game against Southern, Snyder broke her own school record with 60 3-pointers in a season, passing her mark of 58 from last year.

Snyder only made one 3-pointer against Catoctin.

With the win, the Miners still have a chance at home court advantage in the playoffs.

A loss to Catoctin would have set up Southern to clinch home court with a win over Fairmont Senior (1-17) on Thursday.

Mountain Ridge heads to Clear Spring on Friday at 7 p.m.

If both teams win their final regular season game, a coin toss determines who gets home court advantage since they'll finish with identical records.

"They were resilient," coach Snyder said of the win. "Fighting through some adversity. They just keep fighting back. They don't quit, that's the one thing (about) these girls, they find a way to make plays when they truly need to."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Email him with scores and story suggestions at jkendall@times-news.com.