Bluebirds Snap 17-Game Losing Streak Against Holmes |
| PHOTO: Bob Jackson. Highlands freshman CC Shick (25) goes up for a shot against Walton-Verona's Paige Heuser (3) in Monday's game. Highlands won 77-49. |
But it was still a huge 65-55 region win for the Bluebirds, who moved to 7-1 in region play. Highlands snapped a 17-game losing streak against the Bulldogs dating back nearly 16 years to a 76-63 win in Covington on Jan. 23, 2003. That included losses in the 9th Region quarterfinals in 2005 and 2014.
"(The Bulldogs) are a very dangerous team," said Kevin Listerman, Highlands Head Coach. "They've got some guys that can attack pretty hard off the bounce. They have some nice athletes and if they shoot the three well on a given night, they have a chance to beat you and we did a very good defensively all the way around."
Both teams saw three players score in double figures. Senior Ben Sisson led the Bluebirds with a double-double of 21 points and 20 rebounds to go with two blocked shots. But Sisson also had seven assists.
Senior Ryan Leigh followed with 15 points and senior Alex Starkey had 13. The Bluebirds had 17 assists, seven steals, three blocked shots, 14 turnovers and 17 fouls. But in the team effort, senior Nate Roberts scored eight and junior Jacob Brass knocked down two crucial three-point shots for six points.
"We've been going through a hard stretch, but I feel that once we get ourselves back into it, we'll be fine," Roberts said. "We're used to Ben getting double-teamed. He gets fronted in the post and they play back side (defense) so the rest of the players know when Ben has the ball when to cut to the basket and where the opening is so Ben can make the extra pass for an easy bucket."
Highlands made 26-of-50 shots for 52 percent including 4-of-12 from three-point range for 33 percent and 9-of-18 free throws for 50 percent. Holmes won the rebounding battle, 37-36 and hit 21-of-61 shots for 34 percent including 5-of-24 three-point tries for 21 percent and 8-of-12 free throws for 67 percent.
Two starters scored in double figures for Holmes in Ryan Green with 24 and Tico Pouncy with 12. Quantez Calloway came off the bench to score 13 for the Bulldogs. Holmes had six assists, four steals, no blocked shots, 17 fouls and 10 turnovers.
Highlands travels to Cooper (14-3) on Tuesday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Basketball, Girls:
Highlands 77, Walton-Verona 49:
Highlands (15-4) jumped out to a 24-4 advantage after the first quarter on the Bearcats (13-5) and cruised to the non-region road victory.
Highlands senior guard Zoie Barth led the way with 28 points making 11-of-18 shots to go with two rebounds, five assists, four steals and a blocked shot. Barth has 330 points on the season and has 2,096 for her career to go with 419 steals and 431 assists.
Barth ranks fourth in school history in scoring and needs 16 more to pass Heather Kruger-Parsons (2,111). She just passed current assistant Katie Allen's 412 career steals for third in school history and is fifth in assists.
Highlands junior Piper Macke contributed 14 points and senior Chloe Jansen scored eight. The Bluebirds won the rebounding battle, 31-23 and recorded 14 assists, 14 steals, two blocked shots, 10 turnovers and 13 fouls.
The Bluebirds made 28-of-50 shots for 56 percent including 11-of-22 three-point tries for 50 percent and 10-of-17 free throws for 59 percent. Walton-Verona made 18-of-47 shots for 38 percent including 7-of-25 for 28 percent and 6-of-11 free throws for 55 percent.
Sophomore Haylee Neeley scored 13 to lead the Bearcats and junior Emma Strunk scored 10. Highlands held Walton-Verona's leading scorer in senior Brooke Perry to three points. Walton-Verona had five assists, four steals, no blocked shots, 15 fouls and 16 turnovers.
"We wanted to lock them down because at all five spots, they're really good shooters," said Maggie Hinegardner, Highlands junior guard. "We really tried to close out on the shooters and keep them in front of us. We did a good job of rotating around. They got no easy shots."
The Bluebirds play host to Cooper (2-12) on Thursday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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