Highlands Girls Hoops Rebounds to Beat Bishop Brossart

Bluebirds Win "Ugly" Non-Region Game

PHOTO: G. Michael Graham, Fort Thomas Matters. Highlands senior guard Piper Macke (1) dribbles in a recent game.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team (13-7 overall) would love to see this be the start of another winning streak.

Highlands beat the county rival Bishop Brossart Lady 'Stangs (18-4), 33-25 on Thursday in Alexandria. The Bluebirds saw their eight-game winning streak end 60-57 at Newport Central Catholic on Tuesday.

"A win is a win. It doesn't matter how pretty it is and this is definitely one of our ugly wins," said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. "We struggled a little bit offensively. That's uncharacteristic of us. We have to get back to what we do on offense and stick with it."

Bishop Brossart has lost three straight. But the Lady 'Stangs have not had their leading scorer in junior forward Marie Kiefer for the last two games. She's averaging 16.8 points per game.

Junior forward Rory O'Hara led Highlands with eight points. She made four crucial free throws and had three rebounds, one assist and the game's lone blocked shot.

Highlands made 10-of-30 shots for 33 percent including just 1-of-10 from three-point range for 10 percent and 12-of-16 free throws for 75 percent. The Bluebirds also had 18 rebounds, 12 fouls, 11 turnovers, nine assists and 12 steals.

"I think (Thursday) we did a really good job on defense," O'Hara said. "I know the coaches (especially) mentioned to us how good our half-court defense was (Thursday). They couldn't score on our half-court defense. All of us talking and all being on the same page is working out really well."

Sophomore Madison Parker led Bishop Brossart with eight points. The Lady 'Stangs made 11-of-29 shots for 38 percent including 1-of-9 from three-point range for 11 percent. Bishop Brossart also had 19 rebounds, 14 fouls, 16 turnovers, one assist and five steals.

Highlands will play the rest of the season without junior guard Kenzie Nehus. Nehus tore her left Anterior Cruciated Ligament after tearing her right ACL in January, 2019.

Highlands plays at Dixie Heights (16-7) on Friday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.