Feb 2, 2007 By Dave Stofcheck 3 min read

With time running out, Thursday’s Section 3-AAA game between Derry and host Laurel Highlands turned into a fire drill. When the smoke settled, the Fillies found themselves on top, 49-47, in a game marked by plenty of whistles, foul shots and a couple flared tempers.

Marressia Guynn tossed in 14 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds as Laurel Highlands (6-16, 3-11) snapped a six-game losing streak.

Trailing 44-40, the Fillies’ Ashley Haragos completed a three-point play with 2:20 remaining. Three timeouts – two by Derry – later, Haragos gave LH the lead for good when she took an inbounds pass and hit a short turnaround to make it 45-44 with 53 seconds to play.

After a Derry turnover, Laurel Highlands’ Jackie Gaddis missed a pair of free throws with 39 seconds to go, but Guynn pulled down the rebound of the second miss and passed the ball to Gaddis, who was fouled.

This time, Gaddis sank both shots to give the Fillies a three-point lead with 36 seconds left. Another Lady Trojans’ turnover led to a Guynn lay-in with nine seconds remaining, before Derry’s Brittany Joe nailed a three-pointer as time expired.

“We made some defensive stops when we needed them, and we hit some key shots when we needed to,” said LH coach Jerry Slampak. “We’ve had a less than satisfying season due to inconsistency, but we did what had to be done tonight.”

Derry (9-13, 6-8) shot 29 free throws, connecting on 21 of them, while Laurel Highlands was 11 of 15 from the charity stripe.

Two Lady Trojans – Tessa Slifka and Kate McBroom – fouled out, and game officials had to separate Laurel Highlands’ Heather Burton and Derry’s Morgan Hoone, and Haragos and the Lady Trojans’ Dawn Timko, after fourth-quarter skirmishes.

Derry scored 23 second-half points, but managed just a pair of field goals.

“When you get mugged every shot, it’s hard to score,” said Lady Trojans coach Ralph McGinnis. “The game got way out of control on both sides. The refs let it get too far. They turned a good game into an ugly one.”

Haragos followed Guynn in the scoring column with 13 points, while Sabrina Jackson added eight.

McBroom hit 10 of 11 free throws on her way to a game-high 14 points, with Hoone adding 12, but just two after the first quarter. Tessa Demary chipped in 10 points.

Laurel Highlands held a 17-16 lead after Burton converted a traditional three-point play late in the first quarter. The Fillies led 25-21 with 1:52 left in the half, before Demary nailed a three-pointer with 59 seconds to go.

With time running out in the half, Jackson threw up a desperation running hook shot from the top of the key that found nothing but net as the first-half buzzer sounded to give the hosts a 27-24 lead.

Trailing 29-26, McBroom hit four consecutive free throws midway through the third quarter to give Derry a one-point edge, but Guynn tied the game with a free throw and followed with a lay-in on the Fillies’ next possession to give LH a 32-30 lead.

After McBroom converted a three-point play with 52 seconds left in the third quarter to tie the game at 34, Laurel Highlands’ Danielle Reed hit a bank shot from in close to give the Fillies a two-point advantage heading into the final stanza.

“It was a very physical game on both sides,” Slampak said. “We’ve been inconsistent, and I’m sure the girls would agree that a lot of games we didn’t win, we should have. If we would have played the way we did in our last three games, we would have won some of those.”