Lady Mustangs edge Beaver, qualify for states
The Laurel Highlands girls basketball team had to regroup quickly.
The Lady Mustangs had suffered a 59-32 loss to top-seeded Blackhawk in Thursday鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal playoff game and now their season was on the line with a consolation game at Beaver Saturday afternoon.
A win would secure a spot in the PIAA tournament but a loss would end LH鈥檚 season.
Miya Harris made sure it was the former.
After the Lady Bobcats rallied from a 13-point deficit to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left, the LH senior raced up court and tried to launch a potential game-winning shot but was fouled.
Harris went to the line with 0.7 seconds on the clock and dropped in two out of three free throws and Beaver could not get a final shot off as Laurel Highlands pulled out a 51-49 victory.
Aierra Jenkins scored a team-high 13 points, Harris and Taylor Schwertfeger followed with 11 points apiece, Ayrianna Sumpter added eight points and Taylor Irwin chipped in with six points for the eighth-seeded Lady Mustangs (18-6) who got two 3-pointers each from Schwertfeger and Irwin. Righteous Richardson accounted for LH鈥檚 other two points.
Laurel Highlands will next play at South Park in a PIAA placement game at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The win also guarantees the return of head coach Stewart Davis to the bench for the state playoffs. Davis was ejected late in the loss to Blackhawk and is serving a two-game suspension, which means he鈥檒l miss the game at South Park also.
LH assistant coaches John Robinson, Ryan Schwertfeger and Mike Irwin ran the team Saturday in Davis鈥� absence with Schwertfeger serving as the acting head coach.
鈥淯s as coaches, me and Mike and Coach Rob (Robinson), we鈥檙e just thrilled because now we guarantee to get Stu back for the PIAA playoffs,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淭he whole time we were saying let鈥檚 get this one for Coach Stu. That was our goal. Let鈥檚 win this game. Whatever happens. happens the next game because it鈥檚 a seeding game but we obviously needed this one to keep playing.鈥�
Schwertfeger was pleased at the way LH bounced back from the loss to Blackhawk.
鈥淥verall, I thought they responded well,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 thought we shared the ball well, we moved the ball, made them play defense on every possession. The scoring was pretty well spread out for us also.鈥�
While he served as the head coach, Schwertfeger said the trio of assistants worked together.
鈥淚t was fully collaborative,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淚 coached middle school for about three years and coached all of these girls except for Miya at one point. So Stu thought it would be best if I stood up to be the head coach but it was a joint effort for sure. I bounced a lot of things off them during the game on what defenses they were in and what we should run, should we press, things like that.鈥�
Laurel Highlands started well, jumping out to leads of 18-11 after one quarter and 32-20 at halftime.
The Lady Mustangs took their biggest lead of 13 points when Harris scored to make it 38-25 midway through the third quarter.
Beaver answered with an eight-point run to get within five but baskets by Sumpter and Jenkins, the latter with one second left, gave LH a 42-33 advantage after three quarters.
Schwertfeger lauded Jenkins who fouled out without scoring in the loss to Blackhawk.
鈥淚 thought she played really well,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淏etween her and Ayrianna, we dominated the boards as we should have. We were bigger and stronger underneath and we took advantage of that.鈥�
The fifth-seeded Lady Bobcats (17-7) fought back in the fourth quarter and a 3-pointer by Annsley Baker cut Laurel Highlands鈥� lead to 46-44. After Sumpter and Jenkins each made one of two foul shots, Ava Wright drained an NBA-range 3-pointer to bring Beaver within one with 12 seconds remaining.
Harris was fouled and converted one of two with 11 seconds left to make it 49-47, but Baker was fouled with 3.5 seconds left and made both, the second after an LH timeout, to tie it.
鈥淲e did tell them if she does miss, get the rebound and just hold it, they鈥檒l foul you and we鈥檒l get free throws and that should end it,鈥� Schwertfeger said of what they discussed during the timeout. 鈥淏ut we kind of assumed she would make it. Coach Mike is big on scenarios so I asked him, there鈥檚 3.5 seconds left, this is a big scenario, what do you want to do?鈥�
The trio settled on just getting the ball to Harris.
鈥淎yrianna threw it in to Miya and Miya鈥檚 good about getting it down the floor,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淪he covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time and got to a point where she had a legit look probably five or six feet behind the 3-point line but they fouled her.
鈥淚鈥檓 always confident with Miya. She鈥檚 a high-IQ player and just a really good basketball player. Even if she didn鈥檛 get fouled she might鈥檝e made that shot.鈥�
As the officials huddled after the foul, which resulted in three free throws for Harris, Schwertfeger took advantage of the delay to talk to his players.
鈥淭he officials were trying to figure out how much time should be left on the clock so it was almost like a timeout,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淲e were able to talk to Miya. The biggest thing we were preaching was not about Miya, we were confident she was going to make at least one, but when they threw the ball in, we wanted to challenge but definitely didn鈥檛 want to foul.
鈥淚 asked the ref that at 0.7 they can catch and shoot right, and he confirmed. So between No. 10 (Baker) and No. 5 (Wright) we kind of wanted to challenge them without making any contact.鈥�
Harris made the first and third free throws and Beaver couldn鈥檛 get a final shot off.
Wright scored a game-high 19 points and Baker followed with 17 for the Lady Bobcats.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 do everything right but Beaver earned their way back into the game,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淭hey made big shots. I didn鈥檛 feel like we made a bunch of mistakes to give them opportunities other than missing some free throws.鈥�
Laurel Highlands was 11 of 23 from the foul line, including five of 11 in the fourth quarter.
Winning the game in regulation was key, according to Schwertfeger.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really want to go into overtime because they had the momentum and we had foul trouble,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey called one foul on Ayrianna when it should have gone on AJ (Jenkins) and it was Ayrianna鈥檚 fourth. Taylor (Schwertfeger) had four as well. So overtime wouldn鈥檛 have been ideal.鈥�
Schwertfeger is confident Laurel Highlands can find success in the PIAA tournament again after winning the program鈥檚 first state game last year.
鈥淲e have the tools to do it,鈥� Schwertfeger said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to come together, continue to play defense like we have and knock down some shots.鈥�