Highlands girls basketball closes regular season by besting rival Deer Lakes

By: William Whalen
Thursday, February 10, 2022 | 10:01 PM

The plan for the Highlands girls basketball team entering its final regular-season game was simple: get back to basics, play defense and, above all else, get of the game healthy.

Highlands checked all the boxes as the WPIAL Class 4A No. 5 ranked Rams broke the game open with a 17-point second quarter on their way to a 51-38 win over Section 1 rival Deer Lakes.

“We really wanted to work on defending,” Highlands coach Jason Kerr said. “The last few games we scored a lot of points and got away from playing quality defense.”

Highlands came out strong and took an early 4-0 lead before Deer Lakes (8-11, 6-6) eventually took an 11-9 lead after a Jessica Sullivan layup in the paint with 2 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Sullivan tied the score 13-13 with a putback off the glass to end the first quarter.

Defense wasn’t the issue as Highlands (18-4, 10-2) played an aggressive style to draw the curtains on the regular season.

Highlands did get into foul trouble early. Kate Myers and Shelby Wojcik picked up two first-quarter fouls but the Lancers couldn’t connect from the line. Deer Lakes went 7 of 16 on free throws.

“We had our opportunities,” Deer Lakes coach Sam Salih said. “We had a lot of girls get to the line, and we couldn’t convert. Especially this time of year, you want to convert free throws when you get those opportunities.”

The Highlands defense came out in the second quarter and held Deer Lakes to just three second-quarter points. The eight-minute quarter was one long Highlands run as the Rams outscored the Lancers, 17-3.

“We had to come out strong, execute, hit our foul shots and play defense, which we did,” sophomore Kalleigh Nerone said. “We shut their players down really well. It was play hard, run the offense and shut them down, pretty simple.”

Having played its third game this week, Kerr slowed the pace down in the second half in favor of running plays his team hasn’t all season. Maria Fabregas, Myers and Nerone combined for nine third-quarter points.

Nerone finished with a game-high 15 points. Jocelyn Bielak and Myers chipped in with 12 points each.

“We ran some things in this game that we haven’t ran in awhile,” Kerr said. “That’s what we were doing for a large part of the second half especially.”

The Lancers managed to pull to within 11 points late in the fourth quarter when Lydia Guthrie buried a 3-pointer to cut Highlands lead to 49-38.

Guthrie finished with a team high 12 points, and Sullivan added 11 to lead the Lancers.

“We did well,” Kerr said. “We’ll be off for a while, get healthy. We wanted to just get through this game healthy.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Highlands