Highlands girls basketball team growing with each game experience

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 20, 2018 | 12:33 PM

The Highlands girls basketball team is young this season and head coach Drew Jonczak said the players have grown through facing adversities in forms such as injuries and a challenging schedule in and out of Section 1-4A play.

“The girls have been troopers, and we've preached to them how important all the minutes in each game are,” Jonczak said. “Some younger girls have gotten more minutes because of the injuries. It will be a benefit to them down the road.”

Highlands is 1-12 overall and 1-6 in section play after Thursday's 61-49 loss to Burrell.

Alexa Marasco suffered an ankle sprain in the first quarter of the season opener. She came back last week against Knoch and played a few minutes, and she saw her minutes increase this week.

Senior Aliseea Branch was involved in a car accident out of state last month, Jonczak said, and she missed a couple of games while staying with those family members that were in the hospital with more serious injuries.

Jonczak said she has been rotating back in the lineup over the past couple of weeks.

The team is playing the rest of the season without 6-foot junior center Jaharee Holt who suffered a knee injury in the Golden Rams' holiday tournament game against Shady Side Academy.

“That was tough,” Jonczak said. “Her size under the basket is really missed.”

Jonczak noted a row of consecutive games that included West Shamokin, Shady Side Academy, Blackhawk and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, all at or near the top in their respective WPIAL classifications.

“We still have 21 girls here,” he said. “Those games were tough, but they have stuck together through everything.”

Highlands led Burrell 18-10 after the first quarter Thursday, but the Bucs rallied and outscored the Golden Rams 36-15 over the second and third quarters combined.

“We just have to be able to play a full four quarters,” Jonczak said. “But we battled. All the little things have to add up to a big thing.”

Senior four-year starter Renee Cebula led Highlands with 28 points. Lydia Garvin, also a senior, added 12.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Highlands