CALEDONIA – The Highland girls basketball team jumped on River Valley early, scoring eight of the game’s first 10 points.
But the Vikings answered, using a stifling a defense and a few timely 3-pointers to wear down the young Fighting Scots in a 54-32 win in the second round of the Division II tournament on Friday, Feb. 19.
“Honestly, our mentality was that we were the underdogs, and we felt like we were probably going to be overlooked,” Highland coach Whitney Levering-Smith said. “We wanted to come in and let them know that we’re to be taken seriously even though we don’t have the record. But we’re still a team that goes out there and competes.”
River Valley, seeded 10th in the Central District, had 12 blocked shots and 11 steals as a team to slow the 14th-seeded Scots.
Freshman Halle Snyder scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half as the Vikings (13-10) rallied to outscore Highland 27-10 to close out the half.
“We took care of the ball better, we defended better (and we) rebounded better,” River Valley coach Tim Chiles said of the second quarter. “For us, it starts on the defensive end. We struggled here and there offensively, but we defend the ball well.”
Snyder ended up with nine rebounds, four blocks, four steals and four assists. Three of those assists came in the fourth quarter on a pair of 3s by Lexie Hecker and another by Hannah Logan to help RV create distance.
Highland, which trailed by 13 after a Logan basket early in the third quarter, whittled its deficit down to seven.
But Olivia Fogle drove for a basket as time expired on the third-period clock to give the Vikings a 37-28 lead before the three 3-pointers blew the game open.
Highland scored its first eight points in a little more than 3 minutes of play — led by Emma West, who had a basket and a pair of free throws.
But RV settled in, opening the second quarter with a 17-2 run to take a 26-16 lead. Logan scored six points during the rally, and Snyder and Hecker had four points apiece.
Logan ended up with 13 points and a pair of assists. But it was her defense that was more impactful, piling up seven blocks and three steals to lead the Vikings.
“Quite honestly, our players need to recognize that she’s going to block our shots,” Levering-Smith said. “We need to do an up-and-under or a pump fake or something. We have some size. But we can’t keep all of our size in there all of the time because they’re fast, and we had to play our guards.”
Hecker added 11 points and a couple of rebounds; and Mosher had five rebounds, two assists and two steals to go with five points for RV.
The Vikings travel to top-seeded Granville in a district semifinal on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Emma West had 13 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of steals; and Brylinn Tuggle added six points, 11 rebounds, three assists and a couple of blocks to lead the Scots (8-15).
Highland loses seniors Kennedy Altizer, Peyton Carpenter, Savannah Fitzpatrick and Maddy Gordon.
But West and Tuggle are both juniors, and along with sophomore Guinevere Jackson proved to be key players this season as Highland showed improvement. The Scots won three straight games down the stretch before falling at Danville by two in the regular season finale.
