Highlands girls pull away from Fox Chapel in Freeport Tip-Off Tournament

By: Michael Love
Friday, December 10, 2021 | 7:52 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

The Highlands girls basketball team trailed Fox Chapel for most of the first half of Friday’s season opener at the Freeport Tip-Off Tournament.

But senior guard Maria Fabregas’ 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer gave the Golden Rams a one-point advantage.

Highlands didn’t look back from there as it opened the second half on a 13-0 run and eventually finished off a 44-23 victory over the Foxes.

“It feels really good to get this win,” said Fabregas, who scored 16 of her game-high 19 points over the second and third quarters.

“In school (Friday), everyone was anxious and a little nervous. We just wanted to get to the game and start playing. Now, we just want to keep winning.”

Highlands continues play in the Freeport tournament Saturday at 10:30 a.m. against Plum.

“It will be good to play again so quickly because we want to build on the momentum from this game,” Fabregas said.

Fox Chapel will be back in tournament action Saturday at 1:30 p.m. as it takes on Freeport.

“We talked before the game that every season is kind of a roller coaster,” Foxes coach Marty Matvey said. “We’re going to have to be resilient and adapt. We know our time will come. But we have to control the things we can control a little better. We just have to execute better and work on eliminating mistakes.”

Both teams were plagued by first-half turnovers. Fox Chapel had 16, and Highlands had 12.

But the Foxes, with a junior, two sophomores and two freshmen in the starting five, were able to build a 13-9 lead with 2 minutes, 7 seconds left in the second quarter.

Highlands’ third-quarter run actually had its genesis in the second quarter. The Golden Rams scored the final five points of the first half as Fabregas converted a layup at the 1:38 mark before her half-ending shot from beyond the arc.

Fabregas scored nine points in the third, and sophomore Kate Myers, a transfer from Burrell, scored all seven of her points in the quarter.

Highlands finished the third with 20 points and held Fox Chapel to six as it built a 34-19 advantage heading into the fourth.

“We told the girls at halftime that Highlands is a good team with a lot of kids back from last year,” Matvey said. “We knew they were going to come out and punch, and we had to be ready to punch back. They hit us several times, and we just weren’t able to hit back. We’re not happy with the outcome, but there definitely is room to improve.”

Junior Elsie Smith led Fox Chapel with 10 points, while senior Olivia Hager added eight.

Highlands sophomore Jocelyn Bielak contributed eight points in the victory.

“I think everything was a little too fast for the girls in the first half,” Golden Rams coach Jason Kerr said. “They were overthinking too much and just weren’t playing their game. We then changed some things with the defense at halftime. We wanted to press and double a little bit off the press. Once they got a few turnovers and got out quickly in the third, they were able to settle in.

“Fox Chapel is young, but they are very well-coached. We played them five or six times over the summer. In no way shape or form did we think we would come in and roll over them. They played really good defensively in the first half and gave us headaches. It definitely could’ve been closer than what it ended up being.”

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: Fox Chapel, Highlands