Lady Bulldogs capture championship of 34th Annual Highland Scott Credit Union Tournament
Highland used a huge fourth quarter Saturday to capture the championship of the 34th Annual Highland Scott Credit Union Tournament.
Tied at 29 after three quarters, the Lady Bulldogs outscored their Mississippi Valley Conference rivals 24-9 in the final stanza to post a 53-38 verdict and capture the tourney title.
Highland improved to 19-6, while the Eagles dropped to 22-3. Bella LaPorta paced HHS with 19 points, while Ellie Brown added 13 points. Anna Hall led CM with 11 points.
Highland slays nemesis O’Fallon
In three games since last season, the O’Fallon Panthers have had the Highland Lady Bulldogs number on the basketball court.
On Thursday night in the fourth meeting between the two teams, Highland turned the tables in what might have been their best effort to date.
Employing their relentless man to man press defense, the Lady Bulldogs held the Panthers to three first quarter-points and built a 21-9 halftime lead and never look back, rolling to a 46-36 victory in the semifinal round of tournament action.
“It was one of our better games for sure,” Highland coach Clint Hamilton said. “We kind of set the tone from the beginning and they had just nine points in the first half. Our defense was fantastic tonight with a lot of ball pressure, a lot of deflections and we just kind fed our offense off of our defense.”
That in-your-face defense worked to near perfection for the Lady Bulldogs, who limited O’Fallon’s dominant junior post-Amelia Bell. Bell, who had averaged double-digit points in the three previous game against Highland, scored just five points as she hit only two field goals.
HHS also got big defensive efforts from guards Ellie Brown, Liv Wilke, and Ashlyn Klucker. That trio made it virtually impossible for O’Fallon guards Kayla Gordon, Aubrey Mister and Paige Mueller to get dribble penetration and break down Highland’s active defense.
“Their guards are quick and we had Ellie and Kirsten and Liv and Klucker and Kronk, they were up to the challenge tonight (of defending them),” Hamilton said. “They did a great job of keeping their guards out of the lane and we got a lot of hands on passes and got a lot of deflections and got a couple of fast breaks. They just did an outstanding job of coming to play tonight for sure.”
O’Fallon rallies, but Highland holds firm
O’Fallon finally got its offense untracked in the third period with 21 points. The Panthers cut the Lady Bulldogs lead to 32-30 in the final two minutes of the third stanza.
Carrying a 34-30 lead into the fourth quarter, Highland went back to work on the defensive end and knocked down free-throws in the closing four minutes to stop the Panthers and punch their ticket for the tournament championship game. The Bulldogs finished the night with a strong effort from the charity stripe, hitting 18-of-25.
“We got some easy ones at the end of the game from the foul line,” Hamilton said. “We ended up making 18 free throws, so we kind of just put it all together tonight.”
Brown and Taylor paced Highland with 13 points each. Bella LaPorta had another strong night with 11 points.
Kayla Gordan led O’Fallon with 10 points. Tyana Lovelace added nine points.
The Panthers (19-4) regrouped to defeat Teutopolis 68-62 in the third place game.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 12:02 PM.