The Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team (12-5, 2-0) appears to have turned some corners lately.
Highlands won its fourth in a row with a convincing 64-37, 36th District seed win on the hill against the Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (10-6, 0-1). The Bluebirds have equaled last year’s win total as a result and moved to 2-0 in district seed play.
NewCath had no answer for 6-foot-2-inch sophomore center Marissa Green. Green tallied a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
But Highlands received a huge lift from senior point guard Alyssa Harris. Harris had a career-high 18 points making five three-pointers to go with 11 defensive rebounds for a double-double.
“At the beginning, it was difficult because we were so young and it was hard to kind of take the leadership because there’s only one of me,” Harris said. “But we’ve really started to grow together into one team and not really have the division of our age groups. That’s really helping us win big games now.”
The Bluebirds needed some outside shooting to keep teams from collapsing on Green. They made 50 percent from the field and eight 3-pointers to go with 41 rebounds, 21 assists, seven steals and 16 turnovers.
Freshman forward Avery Barber made two 3-pointers to go with three assists. Freshman guards Kaylee Mills, Saylor Macke and freshman forward Katie Bucher had five assists each.
Sophomore guard Caroline Eaglin came into the game averaging 24.5 points per game after scoring 41 points in the win over Scott on Tuesday. Eaglin scored 22.
“We had to know where Caroline was at all times and we had to make sure all her shots were difficult ones,” said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands head coach. “For the most part, I thought we did that. I’m very proud of the girls. We rebounded the ball better than usual so that was great to see.”
No one else scored more than three points for the Thoroughbreds.
Highlands travels to Ursuline Academy (Ohio) on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. game. NewCath does not play again until Tuesday on the road at Jennings County (Indiana) at 7:30 p.m.
Other Girls Basketball Scores
Holmes 48, Williamstown 42
Newport 63, Villa Madonna 42
Boys Basketball
Covington Catholic 74, Holmes 38
The Colonels (13-2) bounced back from the Tuesday loss to Conner completing 35th District seed play with a home win over the Bulldogs (0-13).
CovCath spread the wealth on Thursday in gathering 33 rebounds, 15 assists and 13 turnovers. Junior guard Brady Hussey led the Colonels with 16 points with senior guard Evan Ipsaro scoring 14 and freshman forward Donovan Bradshaw scoring 10.
The Bulldogs turned the ball over 25 times and the Colonels took advantage scoring 36 points off them to 12 for the visitors. CovCath outscored Holmes, 1.19-.63 in points per possession and 44-16 in the paint.
Holmes had 23 rebounds and four assists. Freshman Mark McCutchin led the Bulldogs scoring 17 points.
CovCath plays host to Highlands (13-5) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Holmes plays at Campbell County (10-7) on Monday at 7 p.m.
Other Boys Basketball Scores
Williamstown 68, Heritage Academy 61
Christian Educational Consortium (Kentucky Home School) 68, Calvary Christian 37
