‘Talented’ McGuffey dissects Deer Lakes
BRIDGEVILLE – Dribble and drive to the basket to either draw a foul or find an open teammate on the perimeter. That is the formula McGuffey’s girls basketball team has used to near-perfection over the past four years, but the Highlanders do stray from the plan at times.
That was the case in the first quarter Saturday afternoon against Deer Lakes. The Lancers had only one personal foul through seven minutes and McGuffey trailed by one point.
That changed over the final 25 minutes of the WPIAL Class AAA preliminary round playoff game. Senior Sammie Weiss scored a game-high 39 points and McGuffey made 11 of 14 free throws to defeat Deer Lakes, 68-44, at Chartiers Valley High School.
The Highlanders (17-6) advance to the first round to face third-seeded Indiana (20-1) Wednesday at Gateway High School. The Lancers’ season ends with a 12-11 record.
“We shot the ball well in stretches and then we would kind of go cold,” McGuffey head coach Amanda Burchett said. “We relied on three-pointers for certain sections of the game when that’s really not our game. Our game is to push the ball down and draw fouls. We did a good job in the second half taking it to the basket and that led to our outside shooters being open.”
Relying on the outside shot is not a surprise. McGuffey has been one of the better shooting teams in the WPIAL with Weiss and senior guard Rachel Czulewicz, who scored 11 points. The two combined for four three-pointers and dissected the Lancers’ zone defense.
McGuffey led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter despite tossing up shots from long range, but the Highlanders outscored Deer Lakes 21-6 in the next eight minutes, when McGuffey’s defense held the Lancers to 2 of 12 shooting.
Though Deer Lakes made eight threes, the Lancers relied heavily on the shot, missing 17. McGuffey led by 16 points at halftime after Weiss scored the Highlanders’ final 14 points of the second quarter.
“My kids played hard, but (McGuffey) was just more talented,” Deer Lakes head coach Dana Petruska said. “They have a 2,000-point scorer who put her team on her back. When you have a player like that, the rest of the team can play relaxed.”
Though Weiss was pivotal to getting McGuffey’s offense back on track, her teammates found her open looks by penetrating Deer Lakes’ zone defense or with outlet passes off a missed shot by the Lancers.
Weiss made 9 of 11 free throws and now has 2,246 career points.
“I think we all had jitters, but in the second quarter, we just stepped out of it and played our game,” Weiss said. “We don’t want it to end. We’re not ready for it to end yet.”
McGuffey started the third quarter on a 12-3 run by forcing five consecutive turnovers with its zone defense and capitalizing with points in transition, grabbing a 46-21 lead and never looking back.
Senior Katie Demi chipped in 11 points for the Highlanders, who shot 40 percent from the field and outrebounded the Lancers, 30-19.
Deer Lakes was led by Mackenzie Kascur, who scored 15 points on five three-pointers.
Despite finishing the regular season with a 16-6 record and defeating several top teams in Class AAA, the Highlanders had to fight through the preliminary round.
“Unfortunately, we lost two games at the end of the season,” Burchett said. “That kind of defeated the purpose of our entire season, which was a shame since we did so well up until that point to let two games determine everything. I didn’t think that was entirely accurate. Playing Indiana will give us a chance to show that we are better than people think.”