WILLIAMSTOWN – On a night when their shooting was as cold inside the Williams Valley High School gymnasium as the temperature was outside, the Marian Fillies turned to defense to pull out a thrilling 28-23 win over the host Lady Vikings in a battle of the Schuylkill League Division 2’s top and unbeaten teams.

Coach Damian Fritz’s team suffered through probably its worst shooting night of the campaign, hitting just 10 of 40 shots from the floor (25 percent), but found a way to win their 11th game in 12 outings and keep their league record unblemished at 5-0. Meanwhile, the forces of Shane Zellers dropped their first game of the season after 11 starts and went to 5-1 in the league.

With both teams struggling offensively, the game came down to the final two minutes of play, and there were a few Fillies who stepped up when necessary in a matchup that saw seven ties and seven lead changes before a large crowd.

With the Vikings clinging onto a 23-20 lead at the 5:43 mark of the final stanza, the Marian defense prevailed and was one of the deciding factors in the tilt, shutting out the Lady Vikings the remainder of the way, forcing six turnovers through those sub-six minutes.

“I thought we were locked in defensively all night,” said Fritz. “We did a good job of executing our scouting report, and that carried over when we needed it the most in the fourth quarter.”

A huge bucket by Olivia Serfass came at the 2:11 mark, cutting the WV lead to 23-22, and when Addy Fritz hit a turnaround jumper just inside the lane, the Fillies took a one-point advantage with just :59 on the clock.

During that stretch, Fritz used his time outs effectively.

“We talked about what we felt they would run,” he said. “I’m proud of how we made it very difficult for them in critical situations.”

Arguably the biggest of those situations followed, and when WV ran a designed play to have guard Jasmine Hechler drive the lane for what appeared to be an in-bounds layup, Fillies freshman Addy Marek swatted the shot away, with the Fillies getting possession with 39 ticks left.

That forced the Lady Vikings to foul, and a Serfass free throw made it 25-23 at :35. The Fillies then forced a pair of turnovers, and Fritz hit three of four charity tosses to seal the win.

“That block was big,” Fritz said. “It was a matter of her (Marek) being aggressive, and she made a huge play. We go with Addy (Fritz), Addy (Marek) and Olivia (Serfass) underneath in the paint and were able to put pressure on the ball all night.” Meanwhile, pesky Deanna Pugh’s aggressiveness in hounding the ball around the front court helped keep the Lady Vikings out of sync.

“Neither of us (teams) disappointed; it was a great game,” said Zellers. “But give Marian credit, they came up with the big plays. We tend to contest the three-point shots, which caused havoc for them, but against a good team like Marian, you have to pick your poison, and they got the big buckets inside when it counted.”

TOP SCORERS ... Serfass and Deanna Pugh led the Fillies with eight points each, while Fritz and Marek added six each. The Lady Vikings were paced by a solid performance inside by Sage Smeltz, who had 15 points.

TOUGH ZONES ... Both teams sat in the zone defenses most of the game, which caused headaches for the offenses and limited shooting percentages. While Marian shot just 25 percent, Williams Valley was only 8-for-24 (30 percent).

DOWN THE ROAD ... The two teams will meet again at Marian on Jan. 30, and are likely to square off in the District 11 AA competition, where they are top ranked.

MARIAN

O. Serfass 3-1-2-8, Fritz 1-4-8-6, Pugh 3-0-1-8, Marek 3-0-2-6, Thomas 0-0-0-0, Carone 0-0-0-0, S. Serfass 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-5-13-28.

WILLIAMS VALLEY

S. Smeltz 6-3-4-15, Q. Smetz 1-2-2-5, Kasper 1-0-0-3, Kobularik 0-0-0-0, Hechler 0-0-0-0, Miller 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 8-5-6-23.

Marian 9 4 7 8 - 28

Williams Valley 5 10 4 4 - 23

Three-pointers: Marian – Pugh 2, O. Serfass 1; Williams Valley – Q. Smeltz1 1, Kasper, 1.

Records: Marian (12-1; 5-0); Williams Valley (11-1; 5-1).