The Marian Fillies have come across many obstacles thus far in 2015, including a ton of unfortunate injuries. As a result, a lot of unfamiliar faces have been seeing increased minutes on the floor this year.

Fortunately for the Fillies, these new, young players are continuing to step up for head coach Paul Brutto.Thursday night, Marian defeated Lourdes in an important Schuylkill League contest, 44-35.Lourdes trailed by just three points after a competitive first quarter."We ran the floor very well early on," said Lourdes head coach Michael Klembara. "We had opportunities early, and missed opportunities early. He (Brutto) called a time out when the score was 10-7 early on, and then we didn't score for the next eight minutes and that was the difference. We need to respond better in those situations."Abby Whildin sparked the Fillies in the second frame, scoring seven of Marian's nine points in during the quarter. Brutto's squad also dug in defensively before halftime, allowing just two Lourdes' points in the quarter."It was a tough game and we had to overcome a lot of our starters in foul trouble," explained Whildin. "We worked hard as a team and pushed through that problem. We've worked hard to get to this point"It was looking pretty rough for a while with all of the injuries, but we work very hard together. The younger players have big shoes to fill from last year, but they are catching on quickly and doing a great job."The young Fillies that Whildin mentioned also received praise from coach Brutto."We were in some foul trouble," said Brutto. "Fortunately Abby (Whildin) was able to stay in the game and gave us some leadership. I thought our kids off the bench did us a solid job and were the difference makers."The Marian coach mentioned Tina Capparell, Gianna Agosti, and Bethany Shaud as some younger player taking advantage of their minutes.Lourdes eventually cut the Fillies' lead to single digits for much of the fourth quarter. Marian was desperate for offense during a period late in the contest. The Fillies found Shaud in the post on three consecutive possessions late in the game. Shaud drew three Lourdes fouls on those possessions to help extend the late lead. Shaud and her fellow Fillies also collectively out-rebounded Lourdes in the second half, which was another key to success.Carmella Bickel was a huge part of the late Lourdes rally. Bickel scored a dozen points in the fourth quarter alone and finished with a team-high 15 points."We had to drive the ball to the hole to get to the foul line," explained Klembara. "We got some calls late and it got physical which is what the Schuylkill League is all about."Right now we're playing for district positioning. Marian is well coached and did all the right things. Turnovers and poor shooting hurt us from time to time, but I have to credit our girls because they battled back. We have a lot of basketball to play, and this group of seniors has a great deal of chemistry."With the win, the Fillies clinched a District 11 playoff berth and also took over first place in Division 3 of the Schuylkill League thanks to a Shenandoah loss."We were going deep into our bench and a lot of them are young," said Brutto. "That was a big positive from tonight's game."LOURDESKomara 2-2-3-6, Trell 2-0-0-4, Krebs 0-0-0-0, Khanna 0-0-0-0, Milewski 1-0-0-2, Bickel 6-4-7-18, Conner 0-0-0-0, Funk 2-0-0-4, Albert 0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 13-7-12-35.MARIANWhildin 7-1-4-17, Whitecavage 1-0-0-2, Correale 0-0-0-0, Shaud 1-1-5-3, Agosti 0-0-0-0, Mahon 0-1-2-1, Caparell 1-3-3-5, Karnish 5-2-3-12, Stoyer 1-2-4-4. TOTALS: 16-10-21-44.Lourdes 10 2 6 17 - 35Marian 13 9 10 12 - 44Three-pointers: Lourdes - Bickel 2; Marian - Whildin 2.