Perfect setup: LH’s Harris scores 1,000th point in senior night win
Miya Harris found herself in a perfect setting Monday night.
The Laurel Highlands point guard was one of three Lady Mustangs seniors being honored in a pregame ceremony and she was 20 points away from reaching 1,000 for her career as her team prepared to play Section 3-4A foe Mount Pleasant inside Harold “Horse” Taylor Memorial Gymnasium..
“It knew it would mean a lot to me to do it on senior night,” Harris said.
She made sure she, and her teammates, got the job done.
Harris scored the 20 points she needed, hitting the 1,000 milestone with a 3-pointer at the 5:16 mark of the third quarter, and Laurel Highlands shut down the Lady Vikings in earning a 59-10 victory.
Fellow seniors Aryianna Sumpter and Righteous Richardson followed with 16 and nine points, respectively, for LH. Sumpter also totaled eight rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocked shots, while Richardson had a game-high five steals.
Sumpter entered the game needing 32 points to also reach 1,000. She’ll have an opportunity to join Harris in the 1K club Thursday if she can put up 16 points again when the Lady Mustangs travel to Belle Vernon.
Richardson and Harris got Laurel Highlands (8-3, 13-5) off and running against Mount Pleasant with each hitting a 3-pointer to start the scoring. Sumpter tallied the next six points, Harris made another 3-pointer and Sumpter converted her second three-point play of the opening quarter to give Laurel Highlands a commanding 18-0 lead.
“I had that feeling at the beginning out there that I was going to have a pretty good game,” Harris said. “We had good energy from the start.”
The Lady Vikings (3-8, 3-14) finally got on the board when Kendra Brunson made one of two free throws with 51 seconds left in the quarter but Harris converted a three-point play with 13 seconds left to give LH a 21-1 lead.
The second quarter began similarly as Taylor Irwin and Harris opened it with back-to-back 3-pointers. After Richardson made one of two free throws, Danica Trainer dropped in Mount Pleasant’s first field goal of the game to make it 28-3.
The barrage continued for the Lady Mustangs with their tight defense forcing an avalanche of turnovers that helped the hosts reel off the next 12 points on two baskets by Sumpter, one by Taylor Schwertfeger and 3-pointers by Richardson and Harris.
Morgan Gesinski snapped the string for the Lady Vikings by scoring the next three points on a jump shot and free throw before Schwertfeger swished the eighth of LH’s nine 3-pointers on the night for a 43-6 halftime advantage.
Harris finished the first half with 15 points. She made a jump shot to begin the scoring in the third quarter. After a steal and layup by Richardson and a 3-pointer by Mount Pleasant’s Grace Arrigo, Harris drained a 3-pointer to reach the goal. The game was stopped with Harris being presented a special 1,000-points game ball and posing behind a banner noting her achievement with her teammates and coaches, and then her family.
“I kind of liked that I got it with a 3-pointer,” Harris said. “My teammates were really unselfish tonight in order to help me reach that goal. I just want to thank them.”
LH coach Stewart Davis took Harris out of the game at that point. Her impressive night ended with seven field goals on 11 attempts, including five of eight on 3-pointers, with four assists and three steals.
Davis commended Harris’ overall development as a player in her time at Laurel Highlands after transferring from Uniontown following her freshman year.
“Miya’s done a great job for us the three years she’s been here,” Davis said. “It’s going to be tough to lose her after this season. Coming in from Uniontown she was a scorer-first point guard, and coming to LH we needed her to score her first year here.
“But since then she’s transitioned into a true point guard. She’s a floor general who’s averaging well over six assists a game. We have other effective scorers that she can distribute the ball to and she does.
“Miya sees the floor very, very well. Her eyes are always up and she handles the ball well. She knows how to get herself open for her shot and she can get to the rim when she needs to. Miya is just a heck of a player.”
Harris is the 10th girls basketball player to reach the 1,000-point mark at Laurel Highlands. The Lady Mustangs’ career scoring leader is Candace John with 1,735 points.
Mount Pleasant’s leading scorers were Gesinski and Arrigo with three points apiece.
“Holding them to 10 points is great overall defense,” Davis said of his team’s performance. “With all the distractions going on tonight, you know Sumpter is closing in on 1,000 as well, I commend our other players for their unselfishness and being able to play team ball.
“They love each other, they play for each other and it showed tonight.”