HS Girls’ Basketball: Third-quarter run helps Marian hold off pesky Lourdes
Marian's Olivia Serfass looks to pass around Lourdes' Kylla Sandri during Thursday's Schuylkill League Division II clash in Hometown (Photo by James Gelatko).
HOMETOWN — Both the Marian and Lourdes girls’ basketball teams left the Jack Malarkey Gymnasium on Thursday night feeling pretty good about themselves.
The host Fillies earned their 16th straight victory, overcoming some injuries and poor shooting with a strong second half to upend the Red Raiders 46-35 in a Schuylkill League Division II contest.
The win keeps Marian (18-1, 11-0 D-II) one game ahead of Williams Valley (15-2, 9-1) in the loss column in the Division II standings with their showdown looming on the horizon Jan. 30 in Hometown.
“The first half, for some reason we were not ourselves,” Marian coach Damian Fritz said. “I don’t think they did anything to really get us out of what we do, we were just not ready to go to start the game, for whatever reason.
“We were lucky enough to hang onto a one-point lead at half. The second half was just, ‘What do you guys want?’ It’s all there in front of you. It’s our home floor … we don’t lose at home.
“They came out in that first 3-4 minutes, Deanna Pugh and Olivia (Serfass) were like, ‘Let’s go.’ We got some stops, we went on a little run to give us some breathing room and we held onto to it the entire game.”
Lourdes (11-4, 6-3) had entered Thursday’s clash on a six-game win streak that allowed the Red Raiders to climb into the third spot in the Division II standings and contention for a league playoff berth.
Mike Klembara’s young squad, which starts a freshman, three sophomores and a senior and brings a freshman first off the bench, was 7-1 since the last time the Red Raiders played Marian, a 76-46 thumping on Lourdes’ home floor.
In a sign of just how far the Red Raiders have grown and developed since that Dec. 17 contest, Lourdes was in Thursday’s game from start to finish, leading after one quarter, trailing by one at halftime and down six with 5:40 remaining.
“It was a 30-point loss at home. It was our worst defeat of the year,” Klembara said of the first meeting with the Fillies. “I told our girls, I’m not one for moral victories. We lost it. Our turnovers hurt us, we didn’t box out, we still have to execute the fundamentals of the game.
“Did they play hard? Absolutely. Did Marian deserve to win? Absolutely. They executed, they doubled our guards when we went down the sideline and we have to be able to get people to react it.”
Marian’s coaches, players and fans held their collective breath in the first minute of the game when standout freshman Abby Marek had to be helped off the floor after suffering an ankle injury battling for a rebound under the basket.
She returned roughly five minutes later and was her usual self, helping the Fillies overcome an early 6-2 deficit with six of her 12 points in the opening half as Marian forged a 19-18 lead at intermission, despite shooting 8-for-29 from the field and 2-for-13 from 3-point range.
In the third quarter, Pugh caught fire, scoring eight of her 12 points. With the Fillies up 24-21, Pugh swiped steals on back-to-back possessions, converting one into a layup and the second into a 3-pointer from Addy Fritz.
Two minutes later, she put on a dribbling clinic in the frontcourt, scored on a layup and was fouled, hitting the free throw. The sophomore guard then buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to cap a 13-3 run that put Marian comfortably ahead 37-24.
Lourdes never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
“The third quarter … Deanna just made a couple of good reads there,” Fritz said. “Our girls made enough plays in that third quarter to give us some breathing room and we were able to hold on.”
The difference in the game came down to two things — Marian’s defensive pressure rattled Lourdes’ young guards and the Fillies’ physical presence in the paint outmuscled the Red Raiders for crucial rebounds and forced turnovers.
Lourdes finished with 22 turnovers, 15 coming in the middle quarters. The Red Raiders outrebounded Marian 22-12 in the first half, with Hannah Lokitis, Anna Keer and Vivian Reiprish all pulling down six rebounds.
Lokitis, a lanky 6-foot-1 sophomore, finished with six points, 11 rebounds and blocked eight shots, putting her on course to break the school record for blocks in a season (70).
In the second half, Marian flipped the script, outrebounding Lourdes 20-14. And on some of the rebounds the Raiders did get, the Fillies quickly ripped the ball away to gain second and third chances on the offensive end.
“The biggest thing that bothered me more than anything else is that we knew what they were going to do offensively and defensively,” Klembara said. “But when they get second and third chances, that really hurts. That’s a fundamental thing of blocking out. It’s a team kind of thing.”
Serfass, Pugh and Marek all finished with 12 points for Marian, while Addy Fritz had 10. Marek and Olivia Thomas each pulled down seven rebounds.
Freshman guard Kylla Sandri led the Red Raiders with 10 points and sophomore shooting guard Onaleigh Barnes had eight. Keer had 10 rebounds.
Marian’s offensive balance, length and physical defense are reasons the Fillies are one of the top teams in the league and a Schuylkill League championship contender.
Lourdes, however, showed Thursday that the Red Raiders not only have a bright future, but can do damage in the postseason if they continue to grow and play with the effort they did Thursday.
“After our loss to Williams Valley on the road and after Marian beat us real badly, I said, ‘We have to starting growing up a little bit more quickly than you think,’” Klembara said. “When we beat a very good Lewisburg team at our place, there’s no excuses now. We have to continue to coach you to do the right things.”
