Highland posts victory against Vincennes Lincoln at Breese Central Shootout

A week after dropping a heartbreaking Mascoutah Invitational Tournament championship game to O’Fallon, the Highland Lady Bulldogs responded with a clutch performance.

Thanks in large part to big efforts from Bella LaPorta, Taylor Kesner, and Megan Kronk, the Lady Bulldogs scrapped their way past Vincennes Lincoln for a 55-49 victory Saturday in the second annual Breese Central Shootout.

Highland coach Clint Hamilton was thrilled to secure the victory, as the Lady Bulldogs improved to 12-4.

“I thought overall it was a very good team effort,” Hamilton said. “I feel like we have the ability to score (outside) when teams pack it in. We can shoot the ball outside and then when they come out we can get the ball inside and that’s a nice luxury to have, that you can score both ways.”

It’s also nice to have a bruising inside pair of forwards in LaPort and Kesner who can set up down in the paint, score, and rebound. LaPorta post a game and unofficial shootout record high of 23 points while Kesner notched 10 points.

“It’s really good (for us) when we can work together like that, and I think we’re a pretty good duo. It’s good when we can both get boards and both get points,” LaPorta said. “We came in just ready to play and they were quick and they were good, but we handled them pretty well.”

Highland led by five at the end of the first quarter, but Vincennes Lincoln (11-3) pulled within 22-20 late in the first half on two Darrian Carmean foul shots. HHS ultimately settled for a 26-20 halftime bulge thanks to a LaPorta basket and two Kronk free throws.

A 9-1 surge late in the third quarter put the Lady Bulldogs in control. Kirsten Talor keyed the burst with five points, as Highland built the lead to 43-31. The Alices did have one final run left in the fourth quarter, as a Maycee Lange bucket closed the gap to 50-47 with 3:12 left.

Kronk, however, answered with a clutch 3-pointer for a 53-47 with 2:40 left.

“I was just trying to kind of get some momentum back,” said Kronk, who finished with 14 points. “They kind of got a little bit of a run on us and we just wanted to try to get the momentum back. It was pretty big for us (to get that shot) offensively and defensively.”

LaPorta added two free throws with 48 seconds left to close out the win.

“I think we are becoming a little more savvy basketball-wise and I feel like they’ve kind of bought in offensively to what we want to try to accomplish,” Hamilton said.

Next up for Highland

Highland returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 9, at Breese Central and then will host Greenville at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, in the Highland Shootout.

This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 12:45 AM.