Jayla Peterson had an ice wrap on her shoulder after Greensburg Central Catholic fell to Shady Side Academy, 57-40, on Thursday night in the WPIAL Class 3A girls basketball championship game at Petersen Events Center.

The Centurions senior guard, though, isn’t ready to wrap up her final prep season.

“I think we need to just take it day by day, practice by practice, to get better as a team and perfect our craft,” Peterson said. “We’re very motivated to keep going. I think we need to shake this loss off and get back at it for states.”

GCC (19-7) fell short in its bid for a third straight WPIAL title — and eighth title overall — but will retool for next Friday’s PIAA opener. The Centurions will be home and play a team to be determined from a subregional, a team from either District 9 or the City League.

Can GCC make another run?

“Oh, definitely they can,” Shady Side Academy coach Jonna Burke said. “They’re a dangerous team, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.”

GCC and Shady Side Academy (23-2) could meet again, in the state semifinals — the Western final — on March 16 on a neutral court.

“If that happens, that’s a good thing, I guess, because we’ve done our job to get there,” Burke said.

GCC led early in the WPIAL final in a game that saw 13 lead changes. But the Bulldogs found their rhythm in the fourth quarter and outscored GCC 20-9 with Centurions standout senior point guard Erica Gribble fouling out with 3:10 to play.

“We did a lot of things well,” GCC coach Chris Skatell said. “We rebounded well, especially on the offensive side, and a lot of our girls did good things. Each year, you have a different team, no matter what you did the previous year.”

GCC lost to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 36-34, in last year’s PIAA second round. Before that, the Centurions reached the state semifinals two years in a row — one of the main reasons they were bumped up to 3A as part of the PIAA competitive balance formula — and lost to Kennedy Catholic both times.

“I still feel like we are one of the best teams in the state,” Skatell said. “Losing hurts. That is why it is so much fun when you win.”

GCC has one PIAA title in girls basketball (1997).

Gribble, GCC’s all-time leading scorer and one of the top scorers in Westmoreland County history with 2,292 points, had a checklist at the start of the season. She wanted to break the girls and boys scoring marks at GCC, win a third straight WPIAL title and bring home a PIAA championship.

While the third goal didn’t happen, the fourth remains a possibility.

Something else to watch: Gribble has 284 career 3-pointers. Should GCC make a state run, she could challenge the WPIAL record for career 3s.

Former Oakland Catholic standout Katie Bulger has the record with 302.