WAYLAND 

The Highland Huskie Girls and Boys Basketball teams started their week off on the road in Wayland to take on the WACO Warriors last Tuesday night. 

On the girls side, it was WACO capturing a tough 44-29 victory. The Warriors raced out to a nine-point lead after one quarter, and then added on another 10 points to their lead before halftime. 

Highland tried to mount a charge in the third and fourth, scoring 15 second half points to WACO’s 11, but the gap was too much to overcome. 

“We shot ourselves in the foot way too much tonight.  WACO came out and nailed their perimeter shots, that they normally don’t shoot well, and put us in a hole. We won the second half but put ourselves in too large of a deficit to begin with,” Highland coach Jody Fink said. 

“We have got to find a way to score more and give ourselves a chance defensively. Our defense is doing a pretty good job most of the time, but it needs help from our offense.”

Senior stud Sarah Burton led the way in an unusually low individual scoring night with 10 points, while fellow Senior Kerra Longbine came off the bench to score 9 points. 

Warrior Senior Emma Wagler filled her team’s stat sheet with 13 points, which was a team high.

The best Highland could hope for was a split between the girls and boys contests after the girls game went the way of the Warriors. The home Warriors wanted no part of that, and made it a home sweep of the Huskies, winning the boys game 76-22. 

Offensive inefficiency was the bugaboo once again for Highland as they struggled to keep up on the scoreboard. WACO had the running clock going before halftime, leading 52-13 on their way to a dominant performance.

Highland was led by three juniors, Louis Horak with six points and seven rebounds, Brody Miller with four points, and new into the starting lineup, Ayden Havel with three points. Usual starting Center Nicolas Oriano was absent from the stat sheet. 

Hunter Hughes led WACO with 16 points, hitting two three-pointers along the way.

Wapello Recaps

A two-day home stint for the Highland Huskie Girls and Boys Basketball teams began last Friday night when they entertained the Wapello Arrows and Indians. 

On the girls side, it could not have started much better for the home team, as the Huskies got the better part of the Arrows, winning 37-28. 

Racing out to a 16-5 lead after one quarter, and extending their lead to 29-11 at halftime, the Huskies came out of the locker rooms facing a full-court press from the Arrows. 

Throughout the third quarter, Highland tried to respond to the Wapello pressure, but kept turning the ball over. However, an 18-point halftime lead proved to be enough padding to secure the Huskies the win by finally beating the press in the fourth quarter. Eight second-half points were enough to give Highland a home victory. 

“Defensively a great effort and we played a good three quarters of offense,” coach Fink said. “We were resilient and were able to sustain the run they put on and keep the win. It was a total team effort and great job by everyone tonight.”

The usual scoring theme of the season continued, as Highland was led by Senior Sarah Burton with 16 points and 13 rebounds to give her a double-double. 

Junior Katie Herrig saw two three-pointers fall, adding six points to the Huskie total, while seniors Kylie Allen and Stella Slaymaker each had five points.
Wapello was led by Tatum Wolford with 10 points.

Combined between the Wapello and Highland Boys Basketball teams, there was one total win on the season entering last Friday night’s contest in Riverside.

Something had to give.

Highland was at home, playing with motivation, and knew they had already beaten the Indians in football just two months prior. So, what could stop them?

The Indian law firm of Carson Belzer and Jackson Lanz.

Combining for 33 of their team’s 38 total points, Carson Belzer and Jackson Lanz proved to be too much for the Highland Huskies to overcome, with the final score tipping the way of Wapello 38-30. 

Lanz seemed as if he could fly from one end of the court to the other in a flash, and that ended up costing him a technical foul in the third quarter when he appeared to be attempting to swat a Highland shot attempt away, but instead resulted in him missing the ball and slapping the backboard.

 Lanz also ended the half with a buzzer-beater from the half court line that banked its way in.

Highland did see steps of maturation in their team Friday night, as they managed to shut down every other Indian shooter. Junior Logan McFarland led Highland with 14 points, while starters Bryce Hazelett, Louis Horak, and Nicolas Oriano provided the rest of the Huskie points, combining for 16 altogether.

English Valleys Girls Recap

It was a Saturday matinee of sorts for the Highland Girls Basketball team as they welcomed the Lady Bears of English Valleys to Riverside with just nine days until the Christmas holiday. 

The on-paper matchup between the Bears and Huskies was shaping up to be a doozy, but a major piece would be missing from the Bear starting lineup. Team leader in points per game and rebounds per game, Kennedy Axmear would be absent from action. Highland would try to capitalize.

It was the same song, just the second verse for Highland as the first quarter went much like the Wapello game did with Highland holding a 16-5 advantage. 

Unfortunately, the lead was erased in a hurry. English Valleys used a 28-point second quarter to pull ahead by halftime, leading 33-25. 

The Bears would hold off a late Highland run to steal a hard-fought midseason victory over the Huskies by a final score of 54-50 without star Kennedy Axmear.

 Albeit heartbreaking, Highland saw a big night from their leader, Sarah Burton. Leading the Huskies with 22 points, Burton was the player that kept Highland alive in the third quarter and contributed to their late charge in the fourth.

From the bench, Freshman Mackenzie Davis scored six points, and starter Kerra Longbine also had six points.

Both Highland Girls (7-3) and Boys (1-6) will be traveling to take on the Wolves of Winfield-Mount Union on Tuesday, December 19th in Winfield, Iowa, before a much-needed holiday break.