Laurel Highlands girls preview: Fillies have turned around fortunes quickly under Davis
Stewart Davis had an immediate positive impact when he moved over from the Brownsville boys program to take over the head coaching job of the Laurel Highlands girls last year.
Davis guided the Fillies to an 11-11 record in the regular season and they earned a fourth-place finish and a playoff spot with a 6-6 mark in Section 3-AAAA. Laurel Highlands fell in the first round of the playoffs to a Highlands team that reached the WPIAL final four and qualified for the PIAA tournament.
Laurel Highlands had accumulated only a combined five wins in the three seasons before Davis came on board.
This season also began well as the Fillies opened with wins over Allderdice, 52-36, Franklin Regional, 50-38, and Brownsville, 57-33.
无毛视频淔ranklin Regional is a 5A program who made the playoffs last year and have three starters returning,无毛视频� Davis pointed out. 无毛视频淚 think everyone had us counted out in that game and we probably shocked some people winning that one.无毛视频�
Laurel Highlands lost senior starters Essence Davis 无毛视频� the coach无毛视频檚 daughter 无毛视频� and Alessandra Peccon to graduation.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e young again this year,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 starting two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. We were a little seasoned last year because we had two seniors that battled all four years.
无毛视频淚 have five returning players and I have three starters that played underneath me last year. They learned what my expectations are and they became leaders this year for the younger girls coming up. They无毛视频檙e pretty much standing on leadership and holding each other accountable, which is what you want in your program.
无毛视频淏eing that they无毛视频檙e young, I got them again next year, which is a good thing.无毛视频�
The three returning starters are juniors Miya Harris and Ayrianna Sumpter and sophomore Aierra Jenkins, and that trio will be counted on to provide most of LH无毛视频檚 offensive punch.
无毛视频淗arris is the best shooter on the team and she runs my point,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淪umpter changed positions from last year. She was playing guard because I had Essence as a forward. But this year she has to play forward, in the post. She无毛视频檚 a great rebounder and she can step out, handle the ball and shoot the threes, so she causes mismatches all over the floor. Jenkins is a guard/forward and she无毛视频檒l also be counted on to be one of our scorers.无毛视频�
Filling out the starting five are freshman guard Taylor Schwertfeger and sophomore guard/forward Taylor Irwin.
无毛视频淚rwin has a little bit of experience,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淪he played in the last two games and did really well against Ringgold and she played against Highlands in the playoffs. She worked a good bit in the summer and she came ready to play.无毛视频�
Completing the eight-man roster are junior Righteous Richardson and freshmen Lola Mikluscak and Isabella Paschke.
无毛视频淩ighteous is a junior and the first one off the bench in my six-man rotation,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淟ola and Isabella are new and they无毛视频檙e growing within the team. By midseason I无毛视频檓 hoping to get one or both of them to where they can regularly come off the bench. Right now they无毛视频檙e still learning but I tell them to stay ready because any given night, if we get in foul trouble, I might have to call on them to give me some minutes.无毛视频�
The Fillies like to run on offense and, due to their smaller roster, rely mostly on a zone defense, according to Davis.
无毛视频淲e normally sit back in a zone, just try to pack it in to limit getting in foul trouble, but if we get down then we无毛视频檒l jump into man when we have to,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淲e无毛视频檒l use a matchup zone at times and extend out a little more.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e a transition team on offense. When we get it off the glass we like to push the ball. We love when teams want to press us because it plays into what we want to do.无毛视频�
Davis liked what he saw early in the season.
无毛视频淚 think overall this year my team is very disciplined,无毛视频� Davis said. 无毛视频淭his is my second year and those who were with me last year understand the style we play and the flow of the game.无毛视频�
The Fillies will again play in Section 3-AAA which also includes Elizabeth Forward, Belle Vernon, West Mifflin, Southmoreland, Uniontown and Ringgold.
无毛视频淚 know EF is returning everybody but still, our goal is to fight for that section,无毛视频� Davis said.
Davis is assisted by John Robinson, Ryan Schwertfeger and Mike Irwin.