This freshman's play helped decide the Mercy, Marian girls basketball rematch

Rookie Aizlyn Albanese buried four 3-pointers and scored 14 points.

Brandon Folsom - Hometownlife.com

The stakes were too high and the spotlight should have been too bright for a freshman to be doing THAT. 

That's right. 

The Farmington Hills Mercy girls basketball team hosted rival Bloomfield Hills Marian for the rematch Tuesday night. 

The first meeting earlier this month was an absolute fistfight. The two squads traded blows back and forth until, finally, the Marlins put together enough offense late to run away with the six-point victory on the road.

So much more was on the line this time.

The Marlins needed another win over the Mustangs to keep pace in the Catholic League-Central standings with Dearborn Divine Child, which is still unbeaten with six of its 12 wins coming in division play. 

And then there's the Mustangs, who are trying to keep the train on the tracks after injuries have decimated their roster. They had only three bench players against the Marlins, and they were missing some heavy hitters. That included guard Anna Herberholz, who's the key cog in making their offensive machine zoom down the court. 

Oh, yeah, there's also the 800-pound gorilla in the room: Marian coach Mary Cicerone is still one victory away from her 700th career win. She plans on retiring following this season. 

So it wasn't a surprise to see the two teams duke it out again early in the evening. 

Nor was it a surprise to see Mercy's seniors such as Sarah Cunningham and Sophie Dugas and juniors Lauren Smiley and Maya White take full advantage of Marian's short bench with their full-court defense throughout the game.

What was a surprise, however, was the Marlins' secret weapon: Freshman Aizlyn Albanese. 

More:Fast start, great foul shooting pushes Mercy girls basketball past rival Marian, 35-29

The rookie has been a great spot shooter this winter, but she picked the right time to have a breakout game. 

The 5-foot-10 guard scored 14 points, including burying four 3-pointers. She scored eight points in the third quarter alone to help turn a close game into a blowout as the Marlins went on to beat Marian, 59-33. 

"She's been shooting the ball really well," Mercy coach Gary Morris said. "We have a lot of confidence in her shooting the ball. We have high expectations of her, and she lived up to them tonight."

Cunningham, who scored a team-high 15 points, nabbed a steal at halftime and finished at the rim for an easy layup with 49 seconds left in the opening quarter. The play ensured the Marlins (10-2, 6-1) a 15-8 lead at the intermission.

But, like most Mercy-Marian matchups, the Mustangs didn't back down. They scored 10 of the final 15 points in the second quarter to make sure they trailed just 24-19 entering halftime.

And that's when Albanese started to get hot. 

The freshmen buried two 3s early in the third, and then she ended the quarter with a layup from a steal that Mercy's full-court defense drummed up. Mercy took a 40-24 lead into the fourth thanks to a 9-2 run. 

More:PHOTOS: Marian girls basketball vs. Farmington Hills Mercy

That scoring spree inspired the Marlins to finish off the night strongly. They went on a 17-2 run in the waning moments and never looked back. Dugas (six points) sank a technical free throw to give them a 20-point lead late in the fourth. 

With 1:01 left, Morris subbed in an entire lineup of bench players to finish off the game. 

White finished with 13 points for Mercy, while Sarah Slyvester led Marian with 20 points, which included a pair of and-one three-point plays, and Grace Rotter chipped in nine points. 

"I just went out with a lot of energy," Albanese said. "I was relaxed before the game because we were all laughing before the game and having a good time. We weren't thinking about it too much. I always breathe a whole lot and take really deep breaths to calm my nerves down. Being relaxed helps me have a lot of fun in the game, and that really works."

Albanese has always taken an even-keeled approach to basketball.

Before she was hitting key 3-pointers in CHSL games, she needed to pass the tryouts BEFORE the tryouts. 

Albanese attended Plymouth Scholars Charter Academy for middle school, so she was pretty unfamiliar to Morris when she was looking for a high school to attend. In fact, she had only one year of junior high basketball under her belt. The rest of her experience was playing for the Westland Factory Basketball travel program. 

After the Albanese family decided Mercy was the best place for her, from both an academic and basketball standpoint, she needed to convince Morris she was worthy of being in the program. He got to see her once in the gym before the Marlins went up to Gaylord's annual team camp in northern Michigan. 

More: Maya White has been great for Mercy girls basketball, but this senior is also stepping up

Albanese had the perfect approach to winning favor with Morris during the camp. 

"When I got to play with them, I had to show them what I could do because I hadn't been playing with them all summer," she said. "I wanted to make varsity at this school, so before the tryouts, I had to show him (I was good enough to make the varsity). I said, 'You know what? I do have backup skills (as a role player),' so I'm just going to play and just have fun."

She made the most of her opportunity.

She's one of just three freshmen currently on the roster (along with Alison Smiley and Emily Walker).

Now she's fitting in well with the Marlins' talented crop of upperclassmen. 

"We didn't see her until the summer. Just seeing her play summer basketball, (we knew she was good)," Morris said. "We had a pretty good feel for seeing her in the summer. It's a combination of her being skilled but also she has a feel for the game as a freshman. The girls, they've been very welcoming and accepting of her, and I think they realize she's a good player who can help us. They want to make her a good part of the team, and they're doing that."

Albanese, who recently tried out and made the Michigan Storm AAU program, looks like she belongs out there with the rest of the girls. She can shoot well like Cunningham and White. She can hustle on defense like Lauren Smiley and Dugas.

And now she's stepping up in key moments to help Mercy beat tough opponents such as Marian. 

"Basketball has always been my passion, and I just really wanted to beat Marian and show them that we didn't have a lucky first win against them and that we could beat them," Albanese said. "I think how much we beat them by shows that we're a really good team and we did what we we needed to do with them missing a few really good players."

Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter @folsombrandonj.