Highland opened the basketball season with a split in the Four Corners Classic  in Iowa Valley over the weekend. 

Sarah Burton scored 25 points in a 53-27 win over Keota on Friday. The Huskies battled back from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter on Saturday, but Iowa Valley escaped with a 44-40 overtime win. 

“To start the season off, I'm happy with it,” Highland coach Jody Fink said. “We came, we fought and showed a lot of growth. We can learn from this, but we’ve got to take care of unforced turnovers, rebounds, and free throws. Those three things were the difference in the game.”

The Tigers scored six points from offensive rebounds during a 12-0 run that began in the fourth quarter when Burton went to the bench with four fouls. 

While Iowa Valley was getting third and fourth chance points from offensive rebounds, Highland missed all four of its free throw attempts during the fourth quarter. 

Burton finally ended the scoring drought with 2:37 left in the game and later pulled the Huskies within two with a putback of her own. Katelyn Waters answered a Tiger bucket to cut the lead to 37-35, and Kelsi Cerny tied the game with a steal and score in the final minute. 

“She did a nice job of being able to sit there and take it,” Fink said. “Anna Herrig came in and did a good job and Kerra Longbine came in and did a good job defensively.”

The Tigers’ 5-foot-10 sophomore center, Lydia Kriegel, scored the go ahead bucket with two minutes left to go up 41-40. The Huskies would not score again and Iowa Valley made three of its final five free throws to seal it. 

Despite being limited by foul trouble, Burton scored 14 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked six shots before fouling out in overtime. 

Jessica Kraus scored eight points on 2-of-7 shooting from the 3-point line. She also had six rebounds and four assists. 

“I expected that from her,” Fink said. “That's something we talked about before we came here. She has to be that threat and go out and look to take those shots. And she's just going to grow offensively for us.”

Stella Slaymaker grabbed seven rebounds on the defensive end for Highland. Waters finished with six points, three assists and two steals. 

On a night where the Huskies shot 7-of-22 from the foul line as a team, senior Anna Herrig made 3-of-6 at the stripe. Longbine made her only free throw attempt to complete a 3-point play in the first quarter. 

Katie Herrig made a jumper off of an inbounds pass to give the Huskies a 17-8 lead after one quarter. Waters would extend the Highland run to 10-0 with a steal and layup early in the second. 

Waters had eight points, 11 assists and four steals in Highland’s win over Keota on Friday. Anna Herrig scored eight points as well on 4-of-5 shooting and Kraus added seven.

The Huskies will host Hillcrest Academy to open SEISC North play on November 29.