Highlands continues hot start, defeats rival Burrell

By: Michael Love
Thursday, December 16, 2021 | 10:07 PM

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The Highlands girls basketball team got off to a winning start in Section 1-4A play Thursday as three players scored in double figures and a fourth came close during a 59-37 victory over Burrell.

The Golden Rams, playing for the fifth time in seven days, improved to 5-0 overall.

“We had a good day of practice (Wednesday) of just resetting and going over some things from the first four games,” Highlands coach Jason Kerr said.

“We wanted to get out and run some more, and to be able to do that was a big plus. It’s nice to get off to a good start in section. We know the section will not be easy at all, especially on the road. We can kind of reset now with a game against Derry (Monday) and then a nice break.”

Thursday’s game was back-and-forth early on as Highlands led 15-14 after one quarter. The Golden Rams extended their lead before Burrell closed it to 26-20 at halftime.

Highlands again expanded its advantage in the third quarter, but a 3-pointer from Bucs junior forward Riley Sterlitz at the 4 minute, 22 seconds mark of the quarter closed the deficit to 32-25.

But Highlands pulled away from there with a 13-4 run to close out the third.

“I saw them play Fox Chapel, and I knew coming out of halftime that they would ramp up the pressure on us,” Burrell coach Shaun Reddick said. “We talked about it and were ready for it, but we have a number of players without a lot of starting experience out there. When that pressure came, they felt it, and that happens sometimes when you have that inexperience. They got some turnovers and hit some shots, and they never looked back.”

Golden Rams sophomore guards Kate Myers and Shelby Wojcik returned to Burrell, where they made impacts with the Bucs last year.

Myers led all scorers with 18 points. She hit four 3-pointers, including two in the third when she scored a team-best 10 points to help Highlands take control.

“My heart rate was so high before the game,” Myers said. “It was a slow start, but once we got going, I was making shots, my teammates were making shots. We came together like we needed to and got the (win). Even though we did well in the (Freeport) tournament and started off well, to get the win to start off the section was really important for us.”

Senior Maria Fabregas added 14 points for Highlands, and sophomore Jocelyn Bielak scored 12. Fellow sophomore Kalleigh Nerone hit a pair of 3-pointers en route to eight points.

Burrell (0-4, 0-1) continues to play its early season without senior standout Allison Fisher, who saw her season come to a premature end last week when she suffered a knee injury in practice.

She had surgery Wednesday.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to adjust off that before our games started,” Reddick said. “You have a girl you are counting on for 20 a game, and she’s not there, that breaks down a lot of what we are doing. We’re still working on changing some things on offense, our press breaker, and things like that.”

The Bucs came into the game with one loss by four points (Laurel) and a second one by five (Shady Side Academy).

Burrell senior Hope Clark scored seven points in the first quarter, six more in the third and finished with a team-best 16.

Sterlitz ended the game with eight points for the Bucs.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Knoch