Mediapolis wins ‘heavyweight battle’ against Highland to stay atop league

RIVERSIDE - It took a Mediapolis school record to overcome Highland Friday, 64-59, in a thrilling high school girls basketball game.

The Huskies needed a win to tie Mediapolis atop the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division. Instead, the Bullettes (13-1 overall) are 11-0 to Highland's (10-2) 9-2.

Mediapolis' Maya Johnson is fourth in the state at scoring (22.5) and first in the state in 3-pointers made (67) and attempted (147). She upped all of those numbers by making 10 treys on 16 attempts and finishing with 41 points.

'We had a hand in her face and she still nailed them,” Highland coach Jody Fink said. 'She shot the ball exceptionally well. She is one of the best players, hands down, in the state.”

Johnson broke the Mepo record of nine in a game by Makenzie Rogers, who plays at Western illinois.

Johnson was not the only one who shot amazingly. Sarah Schneider sparked the Huskies to an early lead by draining four triples in the first quarter when the Huskies charged out to a 16-5 advantage and led 22-17 at the end of the first quarter.

'Sarah's shooting got them out of their zone,” Fink said. 'It was a heavyweight battle.”

'I don't know that anybody can play better than they played that first quarter,” Mepo coach Todd Borrison said. 'We haven't played a lot of man-to-man this year because of our lack of depth, but we went to it in the second quarter. I had a feeling we would need it because we did not want (Aly) Stokes and (Abbie) Miller to go off. We survived the storm.”

That was the Highland storm. The Mediapolis storm known as Maya Johnson was still on the way.

She hit four triples in the second quarter as the Mepo defense held Highland to six points for a 34-28 halftime advantage. Johnson canned four more in the third quarter, including a 4-point play as the Bullettes stretched the advantage to 51-40 starting the final stanza. She did not make another trey.

'They got some extra chance opportunities through rebounding and our turnovers,” Fink said. 'Those turnovers against good teams come back and bite you and it gave them the extra offensive possessions to get the win.”

Getting the win was still on the Huskies minds in the final period as they went on a 10-2 run to cut into the lead. Mediapolis called timeout and expanded the edge back to 59-50 with 3 minutes left.

Miller converted a conventional three-point play, Stokes went 4 of 4 at the line, then Schneider stole the ball and fed it to Miller, whose basket tied the game at 59 with under a minute remaining.

'We had our chances late with a couple of possessions, but failed to capitalize on them,” Fink said.

Mepo twice missed the front end of free throw opportunities in the last 40 seconds.

'We had our chance to get the game, but let a missed opportunity get away from us,” Fink said.

Johnson scored four of the final five points in the game.

'This was a big one for us especially in terms of the conference,” Borrison said. 'Johnson gave us some senior leadership that we desperately needed.”

Stokes went 14 of 15 from the line on her way to a team-high 19 points. She also had seven assists and six rebounds.

Schneider had 15 points, three assists and two steals. Miller produced a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.

'I am very proud of these girls for leaving everything out there on the floor and fighting until the bitter end,” Fink said.

Highland faces another battle for the top of the division when it plays at Pekin (10-2, 9-2) Tuesday.