Burrell girls ride defense to 2nd win over Highlands
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Thursday, January 16, 2025 | 9:40 PM
Burrell’s McKenna Miller is fouled by Highlands’ Lailah Jones on Thursday.
Burrell’s Jules Fisher scores over Highlands’ Lanyah Suber (left) and Lillie Ryan on Thursday.
Burrell’s Jules Fisher drives between Highlands defenders Lanyah Suber (left), Lillie Ryan (15) and Bella Bonnett on Thursday.
Burrell’s Casey Brancato shoots a 3-pointer past Highlands’ Lanyah Suber on Thursday.
Highlands’ Tyarah Woody drives against Burrell’s Mikayla Coury on Thursday.
Burrell’s Jules Fisher (left) fights for a rebound with Highlands’ Bella Bonnett on Thursday.
Forward Jules Fisher knew what the blueprint needed to be for the Burrell girls basketball team to beat Highlands on Thursday night in a Section 1-4A battle at home. The Buccaneers planned to make life difficult for the Golden Rams offense.
Burrell blanked Highlands in the first quarter, building a 23-point lead en route to a 55-27 section win. The Buccaneers also beat Highlands, 51-25, earlier this season.
“We had to keep getting stops,” said Fisher, who scored a game-high 24 points. “We wanted them to have the least amount of possessions with the ball and for us to have the most. We wanted to keep getting stop after stop after stop.”
When Burrell’s defense has been at its best, it’s hard for any team to get traction. The Buccaneers allow 29.7 points per game. This was the ninth time this season the Buccaneers held their opponent to fewer than 30 points.
Burrell coach Shaun Reddick said he thought the Buccaneers upped their intensity against Highlands (4-10, 3-4).
“In general, what we like to do is be aggressive,” Reddick said. “The games we lost to Oakland Catholic and North Catholic, we weren’t being aggressive. That was a bad look for us. Our team strives on being aggressive and getting to the basket.”
It was a much-needed win for Burrell (10-5, 5-3). The Buccaneers are in a solid position to make the WPIAL playoffs but would like to try and fight their way into the top three in the second half of the season. Burrell’s next section game, against Knoch next Monday, will be a chance to climb another rung on the ladder.
“We knew that today meant a lot,” Fisher said. “(Highlands) isn’t a bad team. We wanted to shut them down.”
Burrell put the Golden Rams on the back foot from early in the game. Four of Highlands’ first five possessions ended with turnovers.
“I feel like we have to calm down,” Golden Rams guard Tyarah Woody said. “We had to go over the game plan. We wanted to get our confidence back.”
Woody finished with a team-high 16 points but couldn’t help Highlands crack the scoreboard in the first quarter. Burrell was able to lean on its strong offensive rebounding to get ahead. The Buccaneers made 13 trips to the free-throw line in the first quarter.
“They like to pressure the ball a lot,” Highlands coach Dan LaGamba said. “We needed to handle the ball. They had great pressure. They made a couple of adjustments from the last time.”
Neither side was able to get much going in the second quarter. Highlands outscored the Buccaneers, 6-5, in the second quarter, and the Buccaneers took a 28-6 lead into halftime.
Reddick said Burrell got back to what it did well in the second half.
“I feel like what tends to happen when you pull away, get a big lead and you are playing well on defense, you get away from what you do well,” Reddick said. “We started with one pass and a shot. That’s not our game. If we are sitting in a half-court offense, we need to move the ball more.”
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