In a showdown of two of the top post players in the 9th Region between Highlands junior Marissa Green and Holy Cross senior Julia Hunt, it came down to which role players executed better.
The support around Hunt has been more consistent early in the season and it continued Friday as the Indians pulled away from the Bluebirds in the second half for a 57-38 home win.
Turnovers played a big part. Holy Cross netted 18 steals and forced 22 Highlands turnovers while yielded six steals and 15 turnovers. Aniyah Carter led the Indians with seven steals and Miyah Wimzie had five.
“I thought this was one of our most complete games that we’ve played this season, particularly on the ball-handling side,” Holy Cross head coach Ted Arlinghaus said. “The first four games, we’ve been loose with the ball turning it over a lot more than I would like. We still had more turnovers than where I want. But it was less than where it had been so that’s a bit of an improvement on our end.”
The Indians shot 44% from the field as a result and held the Bluebirds to 28%. Aaliyah Hayes led the Indians with 15 points and Carter scored 12 with Julia Hunt, Alyssa Arlinghaus and Wimzie scoring eight each. Hunt also rejected nine shots, grabbed seven rebounds and dished off five assists.
“I think it’s good for us because some teams don’t really know how to trap at the right times, when to go for steals,” Carter said. “It’s about chemistry. You have to communicate at all times.”
Holy Cross (3-2) recorded 15 assists in the game compared to 10 for Highlands. Wimzie had four assists and Carter three to follow Hunt.
“They’re a great defensive team. We’ve talked to the girls. We felt for the first quarter and a half, we did a great job,” Highlands head coach Jaime Walz-Richey said. “We just have to continue to compete for 32 minutes. They know what to do. We can’t be two seconds late. We’re going to keep working in practice and the good thing is we have an opportunity to get better (Saturday).”
Green and Saylor Macke both scored 11 points to lead Highlands (1-4), but no one else scored more than five. Green added five blocked shots.
“Marissa Green presents a challenge. We go up against that every day in practice with Julia,” Coach Arlinghaus said. “Then we felt we had a size and strength advantage on the other end and that’s what we tried to take advantage of.”
The game stayed tight until midway through the second quarter. Holy Cross led 14-12 after Green made a jumper with 4:30 left in the first half, but Holy Cross finished the quarter with a 12-3 run. Macke made a three with 1:05 left to end an 8-0 Holy Cross run before Hunt made two jumpers to put the Indians up 26-15 at halftime.
Holy Cross expanded its lead to 32-16 after a Hayes jumper with 4:50 left in the third quarter. Highlands trimmed it to 40-25 with 45 seconds left in the third after another Macke three before Alyssa Arlinghaus finished the quarter with a three and two free throws to put the Indians up 45-25 entering the fourth quarter. The reserves played a good bit of the fourth quarter.
“At halftime, we were up. But usually, we have trouble keeping the lead in the third quarter,” Hayes said. “Our goal coming in was to win the third quarter.”
Both teams play again Saturday. Highlands plays North Oldham in the Ronald McDonald House Classic at Oldham County at 5:30 p.m. and Holy Cross plays at Scott at 7:30 p.m.
INDIANS 57, BLUEBIRDS 38
HIGHLANDS — 6-9-10-13 — 38
HOLY CROSS — 10-16-19-12 — 57
Scoring
Highlands (38) — Green 11, Macke 11, Barlow 5, Barber 4, Bucher 4, Orme 3
Holy Cross (57) — Hayes 15, Carter 12, Hunt 8, Arlinghaus 8, Wimzie 8, Nelson 4, Hodge 2
Free Throws: Highlands 5/10, Holy Cross 6/7
3-Pointers made: Highlands 6, Holy Cross 4
Records: Highlands 1-4, Holy Cross 3-2