Bluebirds Take Down Tournament Hosts

Third Quarter Key in Highlands Victory

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands freshman Kenzie Nehus (3) looks to make a pass in a recent game.

It had been six days since the Highlands Bluebird girls basketball team played because of finals.

But Highlands (6-2 overall) overcame the rust after the first half against the host Lexington Catholic Lady Knights (4-3) to record a 52-44 victory to open the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic. Highlands will play no less than four games in the tournament.

Highlands trailed 19-14 at halftime. But the Bluebirds came out and won the second half, 24-10 to go up 38-29 entering the fourth quarter.

"Once we started the third quarter, we had a whole new attitude," said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. "Our press started working. Then we were getting easier shots inside. We weren't trapping enough in the first half like we did in the second half and we didn't make shots in the first half to get into the press so in the second half, we started taking the ball to the basket some and scoring inside."

Highlands finished with six steals off 13 LexCath turnovers while yielding seven steals to the Lady Knights off 10 turnovers. Junior Zoie Barth and freshman Rory O'Hara had two steals each for Highlands.

"That's what we talked about at halftime," Richey said. "We wanted the ball out of (Jay Ballard's) hands. Once we did that, we were able to get some steals. Mainly when we press, we're trying to get the ball out of the (opponent's) best player's hands and we were able to do that and make other girls make decisions. Thankfully, they passed it to us."

Barth and O'Hara led the way overall for Highlands. Barth scored 21 points making 7-of-11 shots including two three-pointers and had two assists with O'Hara scoring 14 making 7-of-12 shots to go with six rebounds and a blocked shot.

Highlands made 20-of-43 shots for 47 percent including 4-of-13 from three-point range for 31 percent and 8-of-13 free throws for 62 percent. LexCath hit 15-of-42 shots for 36 percent including 6-of-19 three-point tries for 32 percent and 8-of-13 free throws for 62 percent.

LexCath saw just one player reach double digits. That was junior Jay Ballard with 14. She made two three-pointers.

"It's important to communicate for help defense so we don't let the girl who can score not score," said Ashley Hayes, Highlands junior guard. "We have to do a better job of knowing where the better players are on the court. The five people out on the court have to be doing their jobs and trust one another."

Both teams recorded 25 rebounds. Highlands also had 10 assists to six for LexCath. Senior Brooke Dill and junior Chloe Jansen had three assists each for the Bluebirds.

Highlands takes on the Boyd County Lady Lions (7-0) in the second round of the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Boyd County is led by junior point guard Savannah Wheeler and freshman guard Harley Paynter.

"We got one game under our belt for this tournament," Richey said. "They have two really good players that are Division I caliber. We're going to have our hands full, but I like our chances. We'll have a good mindset and be ready to go."

The four-day tournament concludes Saturday.