Final Four Fillies: Laurel Highlands follows game plan to knock off Lady Rams, reach semifinals
NATRONA HEIGHTS – Stewart Davis mapped out a defensive strategy and his players followed it to a T.
As a result, Laurel Highlands will be playing in the WPIAL Class AAAA girls basketball semifinals for only the second time in program history.
Taylor Irwin scored a game-high 12 points on four 3-pointers and Ayrianna Sumpter followed with 11 points as the fifth-seeded Fillies rode a stellar defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack to a 45-33 victory over host Highlands in the Class AAAA quarterfinals on Friday night.
Laurel Highlands will play top-seeded Blackhawk, which beat Greensburg Salem 49-25, on Tuesday with the site and time to be determined. Fourth-seeded Highlands drops into the consolation bracket where it will play Section 1 rival Greensburg Salem for the third time. The Lady Rams won both regular-season meetings.
Elizabeth Forward defeated Knoch, 43-31, in the other quarterfinal game which means half of the final four is from Section 3 with EF and LH.
Laurel HIghlands upped its record to 20-2 as Davis, who took over the program following a 1-19 season two years ago, improved his two-year mark with the Fillies to 31-14.
“All year long we were the underdog it seemed,” Davis said. “Everyone wanted to say we had a weak schedule. But I knew what type of team we had. We beat Greensburg Salem and then I saw Greensburg give Highlands a pretty good game so I knew we had an opportunity to win this. We just looked at the film and looked at our strengths versus their weaknesses and we exploited it.”
The Lady Rams (16-7) had to work hard for every point they scored and played strong defense themselves, holding LH scoreless in the third quarter but could only muster six points themselves and still trailed by one, 22-21.
Irwin sank her final 3-pointer and Sumpter made a driving shot to snap the Fillies’ scoring drought early in the fourth quarter and put them ahead 27-21.
“Taylor hit some big, big shots,” Davis said.
Highlands sliced the gap to 29-27 on consecutive buckets by Jocelyn Bielak but Laurel Highlands answered with a jump shot by Sumpter and a clutch 3-pointer by Miya Harris to make it 34-27 with 2:23 left.
Kalliegh Nerone knocked down a 3-pointer to pull the Lady Rams within four but Sumpter scored off a rebound from a rare Irwin miss and made one of two free throws for a 37-30 advantage.
Nerone kept Highlands’ hopes alive with another trey.
Clinging to a four-point lead with the clock ticking down under one minute, the ball found itself in the hands of LH’s Aierra Jenkins who lofted what may have been regarded as an ill-advised 3-pointer.
Instead it wound up being the final dagger to the Lady Rams.
Jenkins swished the shot while being fouled and made the free throw to complete a four-point play for a 41-33 lead that all but sealed the victory for LH.
“Jenkins hadn’t scored a bucket the entire game. She was forcing a few shots because she wanted to get involved,” Davis said. “Then she hits that shot, knocks down the free throw. That was big time. That put us over the edge.”
Laurel Highlands added a free throw apiece from Harris and Righteous Richardson and a basket by Taylor Schwertfeger to close the game on an 8-0 run.
The joyous Fillies pranced off the floor in celebration after the final seconds ticked off.
Stewart scouted Highlands thoroughly in preparing his team.
“We knew and studied every set that they ran and went over it in practice,” Davis explained. “We went 12 (1-2-2 zone) and the minute the play was over with and it broke down, we went man-to-man on them. I think it threw them off a little bit.
“Our whole thing was a slow down game. Our press wasn’t to cause turnovers although we got a few out of it, but it was mainly to slow them down, use the clock in our favor, come down in 12, let them run through their sets and then jump man-to-man. Then in the fourth quarter we went strictly man.
“The whole game plan just worked.”
Harris wound up with nine points and Schwertfeger contributed eight for Laurel Highlands.
“We were just trying to take what the defense gave us and it worked out in our favor,” Davis said. “Each of our girls contributed in some way to this win. It was definitely a team effort.”
Nerone and Bielak each scored 10 points for the Lady Rams who also got nine from Myers.
“We didn’t play our best game today,” Highlands coach Shawn Bennis said. “Give them credit. They played well and hit the shots they needed to make.”
Myers opened the game with a 3-pointer but Irwin countered with her first trey of the night and Laurel Highlands wouldn’t trail again.
Nerone’s layup with two seconds left knotted the score at 8-8 after one quarter.
After Schwertfeger and Highlands’ Shelby Wojcik traded baskets the Fillies went on an 11-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by Irwin and baskets by Harris, Schwertfeger and Sumpter to make it 22-12.
Myers hit another 3-pointer late in the quarter to chop the gap to 22-15 at halftime.
Myers would not score again, thanks in large part to Schwertfeger’s defensive prowess.
“Congrats to Schwertfeger, she plays a hell of a defense and she did a great job on 11 (Myers), who was their main scorer,” Davis said. “We knew if we could stop 11 from making threes and stop the penetration of four (Kalliegh Nerone), we’d be in the game.”
Davis peeked ahead to LH’s matchup with Blackhawk.
“Blackhawk is going to press a little bit more and be more aggressive. They shoot the three,” Davis said. “But they’re very similar to the style of play as Highlands.
“I’m just happy to still be in it. My girls are excited.”