Highland upset by Winfield

Defense was hard to come by in the first half on Thursday night.

Highland, assisted by the help of ten 3-pointers, and Winfield-Mt. Union combined to scored 82 first-half points in Riverside, but in the second half, adjustments doomed the Huskies.

WMU (6-5) held Highland (7-2) to one 3-pointer in the second half, as they pulled off the upset on the road, 78-65.

?It?s a big momentum change for us and gets us back on the right track,? WMU junior Sam Jennings said. ?We can take a lot out of it. We learned how to be a better defense as a team and we stopped the ball from getting into the paint as much. It will propel us to the second half of the season.?

The Wolves had four players in double figures, led by Zach Davis? 23 points (18-of-19 from the free-throw line), and Jennings? 21 points and eight rebounds as Winfield ended a four-game losing skid.

?Tonight?s win didn?t surprise me,? Winfield head coach Brad Doerring said. ?I knew Highland was good, but the way we?ve had leaders step up in practice made a big difference. The kids are realizing their potential and that we can score the ball.?

On the opposite side of the coin, Highland suffered its first loss in five games, but Huskies? head coach Marcus Hall is hoping the team responds positively to the adversity.

?I don?t want to say it?s a step back,? Hall said. ?I think it?s a side step that happens in a season. It?s not the district loss that is sending everybody home. It?s the loss where we walk out of the locker room, realizing that we have a lot of work to do. Nothing tells that to you like someone coming into your building, and hearing them celebrate through the wall. If that doesn?t make your blood boil a little bit, you are on the wrong team.?

After a flurry of points in the first half, Winfield took a three-point lead into the third quarter, and held Highland to eight points in the fourth quarter to pick up the victory.

?I don?t know if we ever got in gear defensively,? Hall said. ?Even when we were playing well on offense, we were trading baskets with them at best. I thought we had no bounce to our step. We can usually get away with playing against bigger players by beating them to spots, and using our quickness. Defensively, it was an extremely disappointing effort.?

Highland will look to rebound against Louisa-Muscatine, while WMU will take on Pekin in its next contest, with both games on Tuesday.