Huskies survive past Wildcats

After a third quarter they weren?t pleased with, the Highland girls? basketball team needed to turn up the intensity.

Columbus came out of the gates in the third quarter on fire, and outscored the Huskies 21-7, to take a 41-40 lead into the final period on Tuesday night, forcing the Huskies to dig deep.

After a Columbus bucket opened the fourth quarter, Highland responded with a 21-7 run of their own, and went on to claim the SEISC matchup 61-50 over the Wildcats.

?At the start of the game and at the start of the third quarter, we dropped (our intensity),? Highland head coach Jody Fink said. ?Columbus brought it. With Shania Boyd and Bailey Stroud, two very good players, if you don?t force someone else to make decisions and score for them, they can win games very easily. They almost did tonight.?

For Highland, it improves their record to 8-1 heading into the winter break, while Columbus falls to 4-4 on the season, following a tough loss.

?The message is to keep fighting and get better,? Columbus head coach Kasey Keltner said. ?That?s the message we give every day. We have extremely hard competitors on this team and we push each other every day. Tonight was an example of that. It was a quality opponent and a good high school basketball game. We?ll see them again and see if we can swing back with them.?

Columbus was led by a pair of 20-point scorers on the night, with junior Bailey Stroud scoring 28 points and junior Shania Boyd finishing the game with 21.

Boyd was forced into limited action for the Wildcats, after picking up her third foul in the second quarter of the game, and fouling out of the contest with 3:20 left in the game.

The Wildcats also had three girls pick up at least six rebounds in the contest, led by Kortney Orr?s 10, with Boyd and Kelli Roush notching six apiece.

?We have girls who understand what their role is,? Keltner said. ?Sarah Todd and Kelly Rausch played really well tonight. They rebounded well and created one-and-dones for them and we could get out and run. If we can do that, not many girls can stay with Shania and Bailey.?

For the Huskies, four girls finished in double-digit scoring in the game, with senior Cheyanne Adamson leading the team with 15 points.

Kelsey Hora notched 13 points, while Aly Stokes scored 12 and Brylee Carolan came off the bench for 12 points.

?That second quarter and third quarter, (Carolan) did a great job of looking for her shot and setting her feet,? Fink said. ?She did a great job of helping us out. Tonight it was her turn, and I?m hoping that she will be able to turn that corner and be a big-time player for us, possibly starting for us. Hopefully we can carry that into the new year.?

Highland?s balanced scoring, along with a team-high seven assists from Amy Schnoebelen, combined with a talkative defense, is one of the reasons this team thinks it can be effective.

?One person couldn?t do it all,? Adamson said. ?We knew who their shooters were and we know who ours are, but we have to communicate with each other. We need to know who?s open.?

Highland and Columbus were deadlocked early, with the Huskies taking a 14-13 lead after the first quarter.

The Huskies picked things up in the second quarter, going on a 15-3 run to notch a 29-16 lead.

Columbus got a couple of points back to make it 31-20 at halftime, but needed to regroup in the second half.

That?s exactly what happened as Boyd went off for 12 points in the third quarter. The run helped Columbus take the lead and the momentum away from the Huskies.

?It was nice to have (Boyd) back on the floor,? Keltner said. ?Bailey and she work well together. It forces defenses to guard both of them and a lot of space. Our girls found them well. That third quarter was good for us.?

After the third quarter, Highland held Columbus to nine points, while stepping up behind a 14-2 run to retake the lead and the game.

?We can?t wait for teams to get up on us to bring that intensity,? Fink said. ?We have to do that on our own, and defensively bring it. We didn?t do that right away. We had a great second and fourth quarter, but we can?t count on that.?

The Huskies and Wildcats will both enter their winter breaks and have two weeks off.

When the season resumes, Columbus will host Mediapolis and Highland will play at WACO, with both games on Tuesday, Jan. 5.