Down 14-8 after one quarter, the Lone Tree girls basketball team ratcheted up their defensive intensity, forcing 28 turnovers and using that to beat Highland 52-37 in a rivalry game.

Early on, the Huskies found success off of inbound plays. Haley Sweeting played a ball off a Lone Tree defender’s back as an assist to herself and the Huskies found Alyssa Brase in the post on an inbound to take a 10-5 lead with 2:22 left in the first quarter.

They extended that to 14-8, but Brase picked up her second foul on a charge with 7.7 seconds left in the first quarter and the play fired up the Lone Tree bench. The Lions fed off that energy into the second quarter and only allowed four points in the second quarter.

Lily Miller got Lone Tree’s 13-0 run started with a bucket in the post. Kasey Chown scored six of her 12 points during the second-quarter run and started to bully Highland defenders down low.

“They got more physical and we didn’t respond,” Highland head coach Jody Fink said.

The Lions also kept on the Huskies in their full-court pressure. Holley Johnson and Sara Branson were pests for the Highland back court and came up with four steals each on the night.

The Lions transformed a six-point deficit into a five-point lead at halftime, 23-18.

Highland came as close as three points early in the third quarter, but Lone Tree went on a 12-2 run behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Johnson and Maddie Jacque to have a 37-24 lead after three quarters.

Highland also had to do without leading scorer Alyssa Brase in the first half as she picked up her fourth foul with 6:34 in the third quarter and fouled out with 4:57 left in the game.

After a Holley Johnson 3-pointer with 4:12 left to push the lead to 22 points, the Lions started to pull starters from the lineup. Johnson finished with 16 points and hit three shots from beyond the arc.

Chown finished with 12 points, but more impressively 17 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass. It was her best rebounding night so far this season.

The Lions closed out the game on a 9-0 run behind four points from Alyssa Clarke.

Lone Tree now has a 7-5 record and have won back-to-back conference games for the second time this season.

Highland had a three-game streak broken in the loss and fall to 4-10 this season.

Highland faced off against Lousia-Muscatine on Tuesday and then host Mediapolis on Friday.

The Lions traveled to Kalona to play Hillcrest Academy and host BGM in a non-conference game on Thursday.