GCC girls beat another Class 6A team, defeating Upper St. Clair

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, December 28, 2023 | 8:33 PM

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The basketball went to the near corner. Sophomore point guard Erica Gribble drew a crowd of defenders and alertly fired a pass across the baseline to the far corner.

There waiting was senior shooting guard Mya Morgan, who caught it and sent in a 3-pointer to give Class 2A No. 1-ranked Greensburg Central Catholic breathing room in a 50-40 victory over 6A No. 6 Upper St. Clair on Thursday night in the 10-team girls basketball Hoopfest at Cal (Pa.).

GCC could not have scripted that play, or its two showcase games at the Convocation Center, any better.

“It was a perfect play,” Morgan said. “We just put that one in, and it worked out.”

A lot worked out for GCC (6-2), which knocked off a 6A team for the second day in a row. Rylee Kalocay-led Upper St. Clair is the returning WPIAL runner-up in the largest classification.

The Centurions beat Canon-McMillan, 44-35, in the first game of the Hoopfest on Wednesday. Morgan, a Cal commit, scored her 1,000th career point in that win.

GCC, on a four-game winning streak, held Upper St. Clair (6-4) to five points in the fourth after it scored only five in the third.

“We talk about handling ball pressure for four quarters,” GCC coach Chris Skatell said. “We did that well today. It was a total team effort.”

Gribble, a Division I prospect who has offers from Bucknell, Buffalo, Villanova, St. Joseph’s and Quinnipiac, finished with 19 points, including seven in the fourth, and Morgan had 13, making all eight of her free throws.

Panthers standout junior guard Kalocay finished with 27 points, but the rest of the team managed only 13.

The Panthers had won five of six.

“Kalocay is really good, and we threw a lot at her,” Skatell said. “We had Avery (Davis), Jayla (Peterson), Gribbs and Cara (Dupilka) on her. We knew she wasn’t going to stop playing.”

Kalocay has Division I offers from Bucknell, St. Bonaventure, Fairleigh Dickinson, Kent State, Lafayette, Army, Duquesne and others.

Kalocay ignited an 11-0 run early in the second half. After GCC senior forward Cara Dupilka made a layup to stretch the lead to eight, Kalocay scored eight of the next 11 points, mainly on drives, and junior Meredith Huzjack made a 3 to put the Panthers ahead 35-32.

Gribble’s 3 tied it 35-35 heading to the fourth.

Peterson made a 3 to give GCC a 44-37 edge, but Kalocay answered with a 3 to make it a four-point game.

“We made a better connection on the floor this game,” Morgan said.

But GCC continued to swing the ball, and Morgan’s 3 — and two free throws that followed — put the Centurions in front 49-40 with 2 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the fourth.

“We were cold as heck in the third,” Skatell said. “We moved the ball well (in the halfcourt). We can flow when we need to flow, but if we have to take eight passes, we’ll take eight.

“I thought we did a nice job answering (Kalocay). Whenever she hit a bucket, we came right back.”

Morgan scored eight in the first quarter as GCC took a 17-14 lead.

The Centurions led 30-24 at halftime, with newcomer Jayla Peterson, a transfer from Indiana, finishing a three-point play with no time left on the clock.

Gribble made it 28-22 with a layup off a feed from senior guard Avery Davis.

Peterson scored eight points, including a pair of 3s.

Huzjak had nine for the Panthers.

GCC also beat 6A Altoona earlier in the season.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.