Even though it wasn’t the exact play they drew up, Highlands’ Marissa Green says she practices the shot all the time.
With eight seconds remaining in the Bluebirds 9th Region tournament girls quarterfinal basketball contest with Notre Dame, Green collected a pass near the top of the key, dribbled three times to her right, spun and hit a turnaround jumper with 2.4 seconds remaining, sending Highlands to the semifinals with a 39-37 victory.
“I just knew the time on the clock and just knew we needed the shot and to get it up in time,” Green said. “Every day in practice (on shooting that shot), first five minutes, cut right across the lane, shoot the ball fast.”
Notre Dame had one last chance, but their desperation heave from near halfcourt came up short. It’s Highlands first trip to the region semis since 2021. They can thank their execution down the stretch for the victory. The Bluebirds committed just eight turnovers and executed a couple backdoor cuts, dishing out 11 assists on all 11 made field goals.
“Notre Dame’s very good defensively,” Bluebirds coach Jaime Richey said. “As a coaching staff we watched a lot of film and figured out what would be open and hit those key plays for key points at big time moments.”
Early on, it was a wonder if either team would get to 30. Highlands needed 7:12 to score when Saylor Macke knocked down a 3-pointer, but they only found themselves down 7-3 after the Macke triple. Notre Dame led 9-5 after the first.
Then Notre Dame hit a lull in the second quarter, subbing five in and out at a time after a couple of minute stretches, Emma Holtzapfel’s 3-pointer their lone points of the quarter as they went down 15-12 going into the half.
“When you’ve got a young team, you got to see the picture,” Pandas coach Kes Murphy said. “Whether it’s myself, my assistants, we’ve got to see the big picture. Do the parents see that? Not at all. The kids we try to help them understand that and get those kids exposed to that moment. So the intent there was to get those kids exposed to this moment, and at the same time, see who’s on who looks the part and allow those kids get more minutes.”
The game finally started to get going towards the end of the third. Amelia Stallard delivered two 3-pointers for the Pandas, Kaylee Mills and Macke answering on the other end from deep as Highlands took a 26-25 lead headed into the fourth.
Back-to-back triples from Kendra Collins and Stallard got the Pandas up 31-26 with 6:34 remaining. But a team that started the season 1-4 and has won 21 of their last 25 wasn’t done yet.
“We got down five or six there in the fourth and we just told them it starts with defense. Let’s get one stop at a time, execute on offense and shoot it with confidence,” Richey said. “We’ve been stressing to them 32 minutes, 32 minutes, we can’t get too high, can’t get too low. The girls came out and made plays when we needed them.”
Maren Orme hit a 3-pointer and then Green went to work, getting to the free throw line six times in the final five minutes of the game. Green would hit 1-of-2 on the first of her six attempts and hit the next four, the last giving the Bluebirds a 37-36 lead with 1:08 to play.
Collins hit 1-of-2 from the line on the other end with Highlands using the next 34 seconds to figure out what they wanted to do.
“It wasn’t what we drew up, knew we had one shot and we were getting the ball to Marissa,” Richey said. “She had options and made a basketball play and went to the basket.”
Green’s fade from the free throw line was somewhat an extension of her free throw shooting on the day, hitting 7-of-10 attempts from the line.
“Last second shot was great, but those 7-of-10 from the free throw line was huge,” Richey said. “I think she was shooting about 50% from the line. We’ve been shooting a lot of free throws, told her free throws were going to matter at the morning shootaround and to focus on them. She took it to heart, went up to the line and hit some big ones.”
Notre Dame was without Sophia Gibson on the possession, the Pandas junior standout fouling out earlier in the quarter trying to contain Green, who finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
Gibson was held to eight points and without a rebound in the contest in the key matchup as she was saddled with foul trouble.
“That was frustrating to see how things didn’t go our way, but that’s part of the game,” Murphy said.
Stallard and Maya Lawrie finished with a team-high nine points for the Pandas. Collins added seven with six rebounds, the lone senior on the team with a bright future.
“Kids showed up and played well,” Murphy said. “Had open looks late and Marissa hit an awesome shot late and made her free throws down the stretch. We’re a young team and lost our point guard (Tori Lenihan) in December, our floor general. We’ve got everybody back, Kendra moves on and hopefully we get a few soccer players out and that will change our approach. Big picture-wise we’re coaching this year, but we see what’s ahead of us and we hope to have the continued support from that in understanding that as well.”
After Green’s 13 and six, Macke finished with eight and four rebounds, Kaylee Mills with seven points and three steals. Maren Orme, Katie Bucher, Amaya Barton and Avery Barber all provided big moments themselves.
Highlands will face Ryle in the semifinals on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
BLUEBIRDS 39, PANDAS 37
NOTRE DAME — 9-3-13-12 — 37
HIGHLANDS — 5-10-11-13 — 39
Scoring
Notre Dame (37) — Stallard 9, M. Lawrie 9, Gibson 8, Collins 7, Hotlzapfel 3, Burden 1
Highlands (39) — Green 13, Macke 8, Mills 7, Orme 4, Barber 3, Bucher 2, Barton 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Notre Dame 14/40, Highlands 11/31
3-Pointers: Notre Dame 6/15, Highlands 5/10
Free Throws: Notre Dame 3/7, Highlands 12/16
Rebounds: Notre Dame 26, Highlands 23
Assists: Notre Dame 10, Highlands 11
Turnovers: Notre Dame 11, Highlands 8
Steals: Notre Dame 4, Highlands 9
Blocks: Notre Dame 2, Highlands 2
Fouls: Notre Dame 12, Highlands 6
Records: Notre Dame 20-10, Highlands 22-8
