G. Michael Graham Photo. The Highlands Bluebirds go over strategy in Monday's win over Covington Holy Cross. Both teams are 2-1 on the season. |
By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
It may take
some time for certain aspects to really gel with this young girls basketball team.
But the
Highlands Bluebirds took care of the determined Covington Holy Cross Lady
Indians, 43-39 on Tuesday in Fort Thomas. Highlands won the overtime battle,
10-6 to pull out the 9th Region win. Both teams are 2-1 on the season.
Highlands
once again had balanced scoring. All five starters scored at least seven
points. Junior post Alex Combs led the way with 10 points with Brianna Adler
and Lydia Graves scoring nine points each. Guard Haley Coffey followed with
eight and McKenzie Leigh added seven.
“I think we’ll have balanced scoring all year,” said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. “I have a great group of girls who can
score when their opportunity arises. We have to take advantage of different
mismatches.”
Highlands
struggled because Holy Cross slowed down the tempo and used its size advantage
with junior 6-foot-2-inch twin sisters Cessie and Ally Mayhaus. Ally Mayhaus
finished with a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds to go with four
blocked shots before fouling out with Cessie Mayhaus leading all scorers with
14 points. Cessie Mayhaus blocked two shots and finished with four fouls.
“They’re both very strong,” Leigh said. “They
post up well so it is hard to get around them. We just have to rotate and play
good defense. We also have to have our hands up.”
Highlands
lost the rebounding battle 41-27. But the Bluebirds made up for that and a
2-for-20 night outside shooting at the free-throw line. They hit 23-of-29 for
79 percent compared to 9-of-17 for 53 percent for Holy Cross. The Lady Indians
missed several front ends of the 1-and-1 in the fourth quarter allowing
Highlands to rally.
“We (coaches) just told (the players) we don’t think
we can play much worse,” Richey said.
“I don’t know how many times we’ll go
2-for-20 from three-point range and win but we talked about free throws. We’ve
been working on them and they came in huge.”
Holy Cross
built an 18-5 lead in the first half. Highlands finished the half with a 5-2
run to trim it to 20-10 at halftime. The Bluebirds trailed 26-20 entering the
third quarter.
Highlands
made things happen pressuring the ball all over the court in its 1-2-2 press.
The Bluebirds recorded 15 steals to three for the Lady Indians. Adler led
Highlands with six thefts.
“We emphasized more ball pressure up front and I think
that paid off,” Richey said. “We forced the tempo in the second half and
forced them into some bad decisions.”
Highlands
made 9-of-40 shots total for 23 percent compared to 14-of-41 for 34 percent for
Holy Cross. The Lady Indians made just 2-of-9 three-point tries for 22 percent.
Highlands did
not rally back all the way until late in the fourth quarter. Leigh found Coffey
on the right win for a three-pointer to give the Bluebirds a 31-30 lead with
49.1 seconds left in the game.
“Our main thing is to shoot threes,” Coffey said. “We
weren’t holding our form. We had to find other ways to win, but that three
helped us. We got up after that and it was exciting.”
After
Cessie Mayhaus made an old-fashioned three-point play, Graves drew a foul on an
offensive rebound. She made both free throws to ties the game at 33 with 14.7
seconds left. Holy Cross then missed its final shot in regulation to send the
game to overtime.
Highlands
went on a 5-0 run to start overtime and never looked back. Leigh spun toward
the basket on the right block, scored and converted the old-fashioned
three-point play before Adler recorded a steal and fast-break lay-up from the
left side to put Highlands up 38-33 with 2:33 left in overtime.
The
Bluebirds then hit their free throws to ice the game. Adler hit two with 1:42
left to put Highlands up 40-35.
Highlands
does not play again until Saturday. The Bluebirds travel to South Oldham for a
2:30 p.m. contest.
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