Jan 19, 2017 By Jacob Meyer for The 4 min read

JEFFERSON — Despite turning the ball over 34 times against host Jefferson-Morgan Thursday night, the McGuffey girls’ basketball team defeated the Rockets 47-40 in a non-section game.

The win is only McGuffey’s second on the season (2-12), and coach Morgan Spaulding said she’s just happy her team showed improvement.

“We’re just trying to get better every game and every practice,” Spaulding said. “Tonight we got better, and we won as a team. That’s all we could ask for is a team effort.”

J-M’s two leading scorers, senior forward Erin Confortini and senior guard Anna Mattish, did not play in the game due to injury, and coach Chris Niemiec said he doesn’t know when they will be able to return.

With only one senior on the floor and several players seeing an uptick in minutes, Niemiec said McGuffey exposed his team’s inexperience.

“We’ve got a lot of new girls playing today,” Niemiec said. “We’re missing [two] of our starters, so we are just trying to get [the others] used to the speed of a varsity game. It was just a little too much for them today.”

McGuffey led 6-2, but J-M (7-9) scored on four straight possessions to lead 9-8 entering the second quarter. McGuffey turned the ball over more times in the first quarter, 10, than it scored points (8).

“We just have to have more patience,” Spaulding said. “We think it’s one speed, but we need to have [different] speeds on offense and have more patience.”

The Highlanders started the second quarter hot, scoring on three of their first five possessions to take a 15-9 lead. With the score at 19-18 in favor of McGuffey with about a minute to play in the half, the Highlanders scored two quick buckets to lead 23-18 going into halftime.

Junior Mikalah Maxwell made four of McGuffey’s seven baskets and scored 11 of the team’s 23 points in the first half. The 5-10 forward also had 10 rebounds in the half, giving her a double-double before even beginning the second half.

McGuffey came out hot again to start the third quarter, scoring on each of its first three possessions. The quick start to the second half capped a 10-0 run for the Highlanders to increase their lead. The Rockets quickly came back with five straight points, and J-M trailed by five points going into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, McGuffey wasn’t able to increase its lead past nine points, while J-M wasn’t able to threaten the Highlanders’ lead to fewer than five points.

Two free throws from junior McKenzie Dobrzynski put the Highlanders up eight points with about two minutes to go, sealing the eventual 47-40 victory. Dobrzynski, a 5-2 guard, grabbed seven rebounds on the night while also scoring seven points and dishing out three assists.

Freshman guard Megan Gray shot 40 percent from the field for 11 points, tied for the team lead with Maxwell, who didn’t score a point in the second half but still ended the game with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior forward Emily Durila scored seven points, all in the second half, and snatched six rebounds.

J-M point guard Jamie Lawrence was called on by her coach to score more Thursday night, and she answered. The senior scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting with five rebounds and four assists.

“I think Jamie [Lawrence] – she was the only senior tonight – kind of set the flow as much as she could with the other players and got them involved,” Niemiec said. “She’s the floor general all the time, but when Erin [Confortini] and Anna [Mattish] aren’t here she’s forced to score a little bit more. She only averages like four or five [points] a game, so tonight she had to turned it up a little.”

Freshman forward Autumn Gustovich had six points and six rebounds, while junior guard Krista McCartney contributed eight points and five rebounds off the bench for the Rockets.

Despite the loss, Niemiec was pleased with his team’s defense.

“These girls came out and hustled,” he said. “They played the ball well. I’m really proud of the way they played on defense.”

Spaulding preached to her girls in practice to play defense down low due to J-M’s tendency to score in the paint. She said the team executed that plan.

“I think they did an incredible job. I think our defense created chances for our offense, because they gained confidence on our defense whenever they got the ball after a turnover.”

McGuffey hosts South Allegheny Monday at 7:30 p.m., while Jefferson-Morgan hosts West Greene at 7 p.m.