Monday night’s girls basketball game between Marian and Weatherly went from a defensive struggle to a shootout.

Like two close runners eyeing the finish line, both squads scrambled toward the final buzzer.

The Fillies managed to win the Schuylkill League contest, 51-47.

Weatherly trailed by 14 points early in the third quarter, but battled back to tie the game with just :45 left.

But Marian’s Isabella Schwabe drove to the basket for two points with 14 seconds left, and Fillie point guard Emily Shaud was then fouled and made both ends of a one-and-one with 8.7 seconds remaining to seal the win.

In that intense fourth quarter, Weatherly made five three-point shots. There were two each by Lindsay Hoffman and Megan Peifer. The only other one by the Wreckers came in the third period,

The Fillies had no three-point goals in the game.

Where Marian did excel was on the boards, outrebounding Weatherly 29-15. McClafferty pulled in 12 of those rebounds for Marian.

How intense was the game? By the middle of the third quarter, five Wreckers were in foul trouble, four of which ended upfouling out.

Marian’s coach Paul Brutto called it “a big win.

“We earned it. They made us earn it. I thought we were comfortable a little lit at the end of the half (Marian had an 11-point lead). I knew they’d come out and pressure, pressure, pressure. They gave us trouble, but when we needed something, we did something.”

“I’m proud of my kids for just hanging tough in a tough place to play,” he said.

Coach Kevin Kringe of Weatherly termed it “a heartbreaker.”

His team took an early lead and “we had them on the ropes there,” he said. “Then we got a little stagnant in the second quarter.”

“In the second quarter, they took the lead and we were kind of fighting for our way until we tied it,” he said. “In the end, we got in a party mode.”

In that dismal second period, Weatherly scored just three points.

Kringe admitted that Marian’s height was a factor in the game.

“They’re big,” he said. “We had a hard time matching up in size.”

Emily Zoscin was both the top scorer and rebounder for Weatherly. She tallied 16 points and pulled in six rebounds. She also led in assists with three, and tied with Megan Peifer in forced turnovers with four.

Marian was 16-for-39 from the field. In the frenzied fourth period, they were five-for-eight.

Weatherly was 15-for-48. They shot seven-for-11 in the final quarter.

The Wreckers started fast, taking a 5-0 lead. As the first period came to a close, the Fillies had crawled in front, 10-9.

By halftime, Marian held a 23-12 lead.

Both coaches were proud of the way their respective teams played.

“We got contributions from everybody,” said Kringe.

The Weatherly coach said this was the third straight year that his team came close to beating Marian, only to falter late in the game.

SIMILAR RECORDS

... Both teams entered the game with 7-2 records overall, and 1-1 records in the Schuylkill League.

BANNER UNVEILED

... Just before the game, a large banner was unveiled in the Weatherly gym for the girls team winning the District 11 Class 1A championship last year.

ALUMNI NIGHT

... It was also alumni night at Weatherly. Before the game, two graduates — Amy Sandt and Luke Medico — simulated a tipoff. Medico stepped back and let Sandt gain control of the ball.

MARIAN

Kreisl 2-3-4-7, Shaud 3-5-8-11, Digris 0-0-0-0, Alansky 1-2-2-4, Murray 0-2-2-2, Schwabe 8-6-8-22, McClafferty 2-1-5-5. TOTALS: 16-19-29-51.

WEATHERLY

Zoscin 5-5-8-16, Hinkle 1-1-3-4, Hoffman 3-0-0-8, Provizzi 0-0-0-0, James 1-0-0-2, Strouse 1-0-0-2, Peifer 1-3-5-5, Hernandez 3-0-0-8, Miller 0-2-2-2. TOTALS: 15-11-18-47.

Marian 10 13 8 20 - 51

Weatherly 9 3 13 22 - 47

Three-pointers: Weatherly – Hoffman 2, Hernandez 2, Hinkle 1, Zoscin 1.