LONE TREE

For the SEISC North, this game meant a lot. Columbus, Highland and Lone Tree all have a path to clench a conference title. Highland needed to execute an upset win over the red-hot Lady Lions if they stood a chance.

But not much can stand in the way of the Lady Lions right now, on a killer 13-game win-streak. Make that 14. At the end of the day, Lone Tree pulled away 54-39, moving to 17-1 on the year while raising their conference record to 12-1.

Highland fell to 13-5 with a 10-3 conference record.

It didn’t always appear to be a dominant Lone Tree win. Highland senior Sarah Burton opened the scoring with two straight field goals. Burton would finish the night with 14 points, nine shy of reaching the 1,000-point plateau on her career.

After one quarter, Lone Tree held a 15-10 lead. The Lady Lions tightened their defense and by halftime, they held a 33-19 lead.

Coming back from halftime, the Lady Lions strutted with confidence. They are leading the North and every night, their dominance ensures fear in the opponent’s eyes.

It was no different with Highland. Lone Tree outscored them 13-7 in the third. The only quarter where Highland outscored Lone Tree came in the fourth when they put up 13 to Lone Tree’s eight.

Up next for Lone Tree

Lone Tree has two more games left in their regular season. They’ll face Wapello on Monday, Jan. 29 and then play WACO on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Wapello is an away game and WACO is a home game.

Up next for Highland

Highland also has two remaining games. They’ll host senior night on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Then, their season concludes on the road against Columbus on Friday, Feb. 2.

See the Feb. 1 edition of The News for the full story.