Archrival Triad takes down Highland girls in Mississippi Valley Conference showdown

In a back-and-forth game that featured multiple runs, the Highland Lady Bulldogs got themselves in a position to win against rival Triad.

However, a slightly more experience Knights club stopped HHS from finishing the job and pulled away late for a 51-42 Mississippi Valley Conference win Thursday, Dec. 16, at Highland High School.

“We had our chances. We were up by five or six (points) midway through the third quarter, but the whole evening we just kept letting them get back in the game by turning the ball over,” Lady Bulldogs coach Clint Hamilton said. “They did a nice job working that 1-2-2 press and we didn’t handle it very well through certain stretches of the game and kept letting them come back.”

Highland (4-10, 1-3 in MVC play) started slowly and fell behind 7-0. HHS regrouped from there, got its offense going and closed the first half down just 21-19.

“We actually got off to kind of a little bit of a slow start, but by the end of the first quarter we got it back (down to 12-11), so it was kind of a game of runs,” Hamilton said. “They would go on a little 5-, 6-0 run and then we would go on a 5-, 6-0 run and it was tight the whole night.”

In the third quarter, Highland continued to stay within striking distance as the Knights did not get more than two possessions ahead. The Lady Bulldogs ultimately closed the third stanza down just 35-31.

Then, in the fourth quarter, the momentum turned back against Highland. Triad turned back up the heat with its 1-2-2 press and forced the Lady Bulldogs into multiple turnovers and empty possessions that left them struggling to score points late.

“In the fourth quarter, we kind of had to foul and that kind of spread the lead out a little bit. Credit to them, they did a decent job of taking care of the ball and they made some timely shots and they kind of made the plays down the stretch that we didn’t make. That was kind of the difference in the game,” Hamilton said.

Avery Bohnenstiehl and Kendall Chigas paced Triad (8-3, 3-1) with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

Emma Warner led Highland with 14 points and Grace Wilke added 10 points.

Highland Bowling Teams fare well in Southern Illinois Challenge

The Highland boys and girls bowling teams traveled to Belleville on Saturday, Dec. 11, and had a good outing as they competed in the Southern Illinois Challenge at Bel-Air Bowl.

The HHS girls club placed third overall in their division while the Bulldogs boys team finished in fifth place.

In the combined portion of the tournament, Highland excelled with a third place showing.

Highland Hockey

The Highland hockey team snapped a three-game losing streak Monday, Dec. 13, thanks to a strong finish against Bethalto.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, the Bulldogs skaters scored once in the second period and added two third period goals to knock off Bethalto 3-2 at East Alton Ice Arena.

Highland improved to 4-7-1 with the victory.

HHS had a Tuesday, Dec. 14, game scheduled with East Alton Wood River but it was postponed due to illness within the East Alton program.

This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 1:05 AM.