By BRIAN TORTELLA

Correspondent

MULLICA HILL — Haddon Heights High sophomore Emma Harris’ name has become more familiar across the South Jersey girls basketball community because of her prolific scoring, but she’s more than just a one-trick pony.

In typical fashion, she scored a season-high 23 points, including hitting 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter, to help Haddon Heights secure a 50-44 road victory over Clearview Regional in the first round of the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament.

(The SJIBT is an ongoing, single elimination tournament that takes place throughout the season.)

But there was more to this game than just the offensive box score for Harris.

Clearview junior guard Juliette Mirigliani was lighting the Garnets up in the first half, scoring 14 points in the first 16 minutes. The game saw Haddon Heights clinging to a narrow 24-22 lead at the break, so coach Lauren Kendra decided it was time to call on Harris to defend Mirigliani.

Luckily for Kendra, Harris enjoys when she’s instructed with a task of that magnitude, and the decision paid off. Harris held Mirigliani to just six points in the final 16 minutes en route to the non-league victory.

“I kind of enjoy when (Kendra) tells me that I have a good task like that, because it makes me better and makes me work harder,” Harris said. “Seeing myself succeed radiates to my teammates, and then we all find success.

“It was a big game and a good win. It was definitely a team effort. The first half, they kept it close, but we had a big third quarter, which was important, that let us take the lead.”

Said Kendra, “if you look at Emma Harris, I asked her to swap at halftime and play their best player, who is a phenomenal player. I don’t know what she held her to, but she definitely held her to less than 14 from the first half. When you ask a kid of that caliber to work on both ends of the ball — I mean, she’s only a sophomore, she’s young. But she’s also a great teammate. She gets to the lane and kicks all the time.”

With the score even at 30 headed into the fourth, Haddon Heights outscored Clearview 20-14 in the final eight minutes, including a 13-4 Garnets’ run during a six-minute chunk of the quarter. Harris was responsible for 11 of the final 20 points that sealed the game for the visitors.

“I honestly think it was a team effort with rebounding and getting to the loose balls,” Kendra said. “I think we did a better job of being the aggressors in that aspect of the game. In the first half, we were not rebounding well, we weren’t really in passing lanes. I thought we got a lot of defense-to-offense.”

Harris now has 488 points in her career. Reaching 1,000 points as a sophomore is very rarely seen, but if anyone can reach the milestone, it’s Harris. She’s also 29 three-pointers away from 100 for her career after making seven this year and 64 as a freshman. 

“It is a lot, but it’s always kind of been a dream, so I feel like hitting a thousand (points) this year would be a dream come true,” Harris said. “Also, 100 threes would be really cool.”

What makes these potential feats even more impressive for Harris is that she’s a little younger than your average sophomore, as she just turned 15 in July. 

Harris said there are some differences to her game after her standout freshman season.

“I definitely learned a little bit more leadership,” she said. “I’m staying more composed as (compared) to last year. I think I can just keep growing off of it.” 

Featuring a talented lineup of underclassmen, Haddon Heights started just two seniors — Sami Szabo and Katherine Campbell — on Monday. The rest of the lineup, outside of Harris, consisted of sophomore Allie Agin and junior Brielle Connor, with Serenity Matthews, a sophomore, contributing off the bench. That trio combined for 11 points against Clearview, which was led by Mirigliani’s 20 points.

Last year, Haddon Heights fell to the defending South Jersey Group 2 champion Middle Township in the quarterfinal round of the sectional playoffs, 38-33. The Garnets have learned and improved a lot since that loss, though, coach Kendra said.

“I think there’s a step up all around in terms of our kids that have been here before,” Kendra continued. “I am actually highly impressed. They have really good energy about them, and they work hard and don’t mess around. I think from last year to this year, not just in Emma Harris, but in Brielle Connor’s shooting and Allie Agin — and even Sami Szabo, Katherine Campbell. We have some people that are a little bit inexperienced, but they have such a good energy about them and positivity. I feel like they work hard every day. They’re going to just keep going up.”

This year, Kendra’s young Garnets (2-1, 1-0 Colonial Liberty) will look to contend alongside favorites Middle and Cinnaminson in South Jersey Group 2. Until February and the state playoffs, though, she knows her squad has some work to do. 

“We still have to get a little bit grittier,” she said. “As you can see, the back of our (team T-shirt) says ‘All Heart, No Height’, so we need to make sure we actually live up to that.”

The loss dropped Clearview (1-2, 0-1 Tri-County Royal) below .500 for the first time in nearly two years. The Pioneers are still trying to figure out how to navigate life after graduating 1,500-point scorer Ana Pellecchia, who is now playing at Jefferson University. On winter break from college, Pellecchia was in attendance to support her former squad on Monday.

“I think that’s as well as we played in terms of toughness and coming together,” Pioneers coach Casey Heitman said. “We’re young and a little inexperienced, and we’re still finding ourselves. We do have some talent, we just need to gel together, that’s what we’re working toward.”

WHAT’S NEXT: Haddon Heights vs. Highland Regional on Friday at noon. Clearview Regional vs. Cinnaminson on Friday at 9 a.m.

Contact Brian Tortella: btortreportssj@gmail.com.