Huskies withstand Wildcats

COLUMBUS JUNCTION - Tenacity will eventually be rewarded in sports.

A mad dash for a rebound ended up with a Columbus player sprawled headfirst near Highland's bench. Audible sobs could be heard, but by the time a trainer and a couple coaches arrived, Anna Hamilton popped up, yelled, 'I'm fine” and sprinted away from everyone.

The fight in her was emblematic of the Columbus girls basketball team Friday in a Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division battle. Even though the Wildcats lost, they were obviously playing hard in the 57-24 defeat.

'She is very hardheaded and stubborn and that's what I love about her,” Columbus coach Katie Coil said. 'She goes 100 percent all the time.”

Hamilton led Columbus with 10 points and two steals before fouling out.

'I will say that our hustle and intensity was a lot better than it has been,” Coil said. 'Things are going to start falling into place for us and when that happens, we will be right there. We are doing so much better.”

'Give them some time and they might be all right,” Highland coach Jody Fink said. 'It was a rough game. It's our third game this week that's been rough. It's like we were in a heavyweight title fight.”

If the game was a prize fight, highland knows what to do after the halfway point. For the second time in three games, the Huskies held their opponent without a point in the third quarter.

'We just try to find a team's strength and take that away,” Fink said. 'When we are rebounding well, we can do that.”

Highland out-rebounded Columbus 49-21 with Abbie Miller and Aly Stokes grabbing 13 apiece.

Miller had 12 points and Stokes went for 21.

'Miller does a great job running the floor. If we can get it into her, we can score pretty easily,” Fink said. 'Stokes does a good job handling the ball. Haley Sweeting is little undersized, but she does a good job rebounding.”

Sweeting had seven boards. Alyssa Brase put up eight points and took down six rebounds.

”Brase is coming along,” Fink said. 'Kylie Wood stepped up and played very well,”

Wood filled the stat sheet with six points, 4 of 4 free throws, five rebounds, and four assists.

'We need to be a little more active on defense on the front of our zone and we missed too many bunnies,” Fink said.

Highland led 15-6 after the first quarter and 23-10 at halftime, then 36-10 to start the fourth period.

Highland is 7-2, 6-1 North and hosts English Valleys today.

Columbus is 0-7 overall, 0-6 North. Columbus plays at Iowa Mennonite School Tuesday.