BELLVILLE – No practice time? No game plan? No problem for the Highland girls basketball team.
Having just one practice under their belts, the Scots went to Clear Fork and rallied for a 38-34 victory in non-league play to open the season on Saturday, Nov. 28.
The Scots got one practice in after a two-week quarantine heading into the game against the Colts, which was supposed to be played the week prior on Nov. 21.
"It was a lot of fun to coach … once we got started," Highland coach Whitney Levering-Smith said. "I just didn't know exactly what was going to happen. I didn't know what my rotation was going to be. A lot of those game situations, I didn't know.
"So I had to base it off then and there and just go with it. It kinda made it fun because I didn't have (a game plan) and it made me think on my toes constantly."
Clear Fork started fast and led most of the way, building a 15-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Emma West jump-started a first-half rally for the Scots (1-0) with an and-1 off a Kennedy Altizer assist. Peyton Carpenter had a backcourt steal that she turned into a layup and then fed Savannah Fitzpatrick for a basket after a Clear Fork turnover, cutting the deficit to one.
Ryleigh Howard scored all seven of her points in the first half, including a put-back with 1:55 remaining in the second to give the Scots their first lead of the game.
But it was short-lived, as Morgan Galco connected on a 3-pointer on Clear Fork's possession, and Trinity Cook added a basket and an assist on a Pacey Chrastina three to help the Colts take a 23-18 lead into the locker room.
The margin stayed in range through the third quarter before Highland scored the first nine points of the fourth to take the lead for good.
West scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter alone. She took advantage of the charity stripe, where she converted nine of 10 free throws overall and six of seven in the final stanza.
"I think we just kept playing," West said. "We just didn't want to lose. It was nerve-wracking at the beginning, but once we (got going), it was good."
West added 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks to her ledger.
Carpenter added eight points, five rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists; and Brylinn Tuggle led with five steals to go with five rebounds and four points for the Scots, who also got five rebounds from Maddy Gordon.
Galco had 10 points; Cook added seven points, five rebounds and two steals; and Lilly Wortman had six rebounds and five steals to go with two points for the Colts (0-2).
Levering-Smith wasn't ready to make the practice of no practice a regular thing, but it worked for one night.
"I didn't want to throw a scouting report at them … when we honestly just needed to focus on ourselves," she said. "If I would have overloaded them with a bunch of X's and O's and 'this is how we guard this specific person on this screen' and all that stuff, then we wouldn't have been able to just go out and play."
