No Letdown for Highlands

Bluebirds Hit Running Clock on Hosts

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands sophomore Rylee Thomas (22) fires up a free throw in a recent junior varsity contest. She scored her first two varsity points in the fourth quarter against Bishop Brossart on Monday.

Just two days after their biggest win of the season, it became time to go out and prove themselves all over again.

But after a few minutes passed in the first quarter, the Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team (14-6) showed there would be no letdown Monday. The started rolling at the 5:26 mark of the first quarter and never looked back in a 58-25 non-region win over the host Bishop Brossart Mustangs (12-8). Highlands has won five in a row in the series.

"It's a credit to the girls," said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. "We talked about it before the game. This is another test. Saturday's win doesn't mean anything so now it's our next opponent. These are just tests getting us ready for the district tournament."

Highlands finishes the regular season a perfect 5-0 against teams from the 10th Region. That includes a 3-0 mark against teams from the 37th District.

It started with solid traps defensively all over the court. The trapping angles made it difficult for the Mustangs to make good passes. As a result, Highlands recorded 12 steals off 21 Bishop Brossart turnovers while yielding just three steals off 12 turnovers.

Highlands junior guard Zoie Barth again led the way with 23 points playing in just the first half. She made 8-of-9 shots including all four three-point attempts and all three free throws to go with three assists and four steals. Juniors Ashley Hayes, Hanna Buecker and sophomore Maggie Hinegardner had two steals each for the Bluebirds.

"We started wearing them down defensively and getting some quick steals," Richey said. "It always helps when Zoie misses one shot, then she's perfect from the floor the rest of the half. Other girls stepped up, got some steals and we converted those steals."

Eleven players scored for Highlands. On the other side, junior guard Mariah Frommeyer led the Mustangs with seven points. The Bluebirds made 21-of-43 shots for 49 percent including 10-of-19 from outside for 53 percent consistently cutting to the basket and making things happen. They also hit 6-of-7 free throws for 86 percent and won the rebounding battle, 25-13. Five Bluebirds had three rebounds each.

Bishop Brossart made 9-of-26 shots for 35 percent including 2-of-9 from three-point land for 22 percent. The Mustangs also made 5-of-9 free throws for 56 percent.

Highlands finished the first quarter with a 17-0 run to go up 21-4. Barth scored 13 points in that quarter.

The Highlands lead hit 30 points after another Barth triple with 3:26 left in the first half. Hinegardner then hit a three-pointer with 2:43 left in the half to put the Bluebirds up by a 40-7 count. The Bluebirds led 45-11 at halftime after an Emma Riccobene three-pointer with 24 seconds left.

The game hit the running clock with Highlands up 48-13 with 6:33 in the third quarter after an Olivia Gessner lay-up. The Bluebirds led 56-20 entering the fourth quarter.

Their largest lead came at 58-20 after sophomore post Rylee Thomas scored the first two varsity points of her career. Thomas hit a jumper on the right post.

"It was a great experience to score my first varsity points," Thomas said. "We always practice cutting hard to get the open lay-ups. It showed off (Monday) because a lot of us did that including myself and we scored. It's a pretty great program and I'm excited to be a part of it and be able to dress varsity from now on. Even if you're on the bench, it's a fun experience cheering on the others."

Highlands won the junior varsity game, 52-50 in overtime as sophomore Piper Macke scored as time expired. Macke led Highlands with 11 points with Kenzie Nehus, Meghan Walz and Riccobene scoring nine each.

Highlands faces Newport on Friday in Newport. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Region Bowling:
Bach, Campbell Advance to State Singles:

The Highlands bowling teams will have one person each in the state singles tournament. Highlands senior Andy Campbell won the Fifth Region boys singles championship Monday at SuperBowl Bellewood.

Campbell entered the tournament as the second seed. He defeated Campbell County's Cameron Bechtol before defeating top-seeded Jonathan Cummins of Simon Kenton, 197-186.

Freshman Abby Bach entered the girls' side as the third seed and defeated fourth-seeded Aleah Staggs of Campbell County, 165-160. She then lost to second-seeded Mirena Combs of Newport. Combs then beat top-seeded Kaylee Hitt of Campbell County.

The team tournament takes place Wednesday.