Avery Barber had an open shot from the right corner, but passed it up.
That’s when Highlands head coach Jaime Walz-Richey decided it was time to pull the sophomore forward out and have a teaching moment.
“(Barber) was afraid it was going to get blocked and (the coaches) we’re like, ‘Who cares if you get it blocked? We’re going to get the ball back,” Richey said. “You’re a shooter. You have to be ready to shoot it. She listened to us and came out and hit two big ones.”
That included the game-winner from near the same spot with 45 seconds left in the game to give Highlands its first lead of the second half, 41-40. Eighth grade guard Maren Orme then hit all four free throws in the final 22.8 seconds to help the Bluebirds seal a 45-40 road win over Scott on Wednesday. Highlands has won five in a row.
“I think at first I was really in my head,” Barber said. “But luckily, I have really good teammates. We were discouraged at first. But then we all have each others’ backs. We got each other up and that’s why we won the game.”
Highlands outscored Scott 19-6 in the fourth quarter, including an 11-0 run to finish the game. The Bluebirds trapped at various points of the court and forced turnovers to rally back for the win, recording 12 steals. Saylor Macke led Highlands with four steals with Katie Bucher and Kaylee Mills stealing three balls each.
The Bluebirds pulled down 33 rebounds to overcome a tough night shooting and 16 turnovers. Highlands hit just 33% from the field and 9-of-20 from the free throw line.
“If you think about the first half, (Scott) didn’t score many points,” Richey said. “It was our offense that was being affected. Once we did things the things that Highlands does – pass and cut instead of dribble through people, we were successful. That’s what we stressed at halftime. We came out great in the second half. We rebounded the ball. We just couldn’t make lay-ups. At the end of the third, we reminded them you’re going make these shots.”
Junior center Marissa Green nearly posted a double-double for the Bluebirds overcoming a 4-of-14 game at the free-throw line. Green used her size advantage to score 19 points including one three-pointer and grabbed nine rebounds.
“You just have to be very physical,” Scott head coach Eric Pouncy said of defending Green. “Being 6-3, she’s good on her feet. If they’re going to let us play a bit, even when she doesn’t have the ball, make sure we’re into her body trying to make her aware that we’re there every play trying to wear her out.”
Senior Amaya Barton and Orme finished with nine points each to keep the Bluebirds within striking distance. Barton scored the first two Highlands buckets and took a nice pass from Katie Bucher for a lay-up with 3:05 left in the first half to tie the game at 18.
The Eagles tried to use their depth to pull out a victory. Sisters Kaia Peterson and Kourtney Peterson led the way scoring 11 each.
The Bluebirds led 10-9 after one quarter and Scott led 21-19 at halftime. Nakiah Mejia recorded a steal and score with 2:28 left in the first half to put the Eagles up 20-18 with 2:28 left in the first half.
Scott went on a run in the middle of the third quarter to build a double-digit lead. Kaia Peterson made a fastbreak lay-up with 3:45 left in the frame to put the Eagles up 27-20.
“We knew Scott had more bigger aggressive girls,” Barton said. “After watching (the Peterson sisters) drive to the basket, we knew that we had to change that. Whether they liked to go left or right, we had to cut them off and make them pass the ball. I think we did really well with that.”
Barton ended the 6-0 Scott run with 1:40 left in the quarter putting in an offensive rebound before Jayla Sanders drew a foul on a three-point shot and made all three to put the Eagles up 32-22 with 1:21 left in the third quarter. Scott led 34-26 after three.
After a Madeline Spencer 3-pointer 21 seconds into the fourth quarter to put the Eagles up 37-26, Scott scored just three points the rest of the game.
Green scored six straight points to cut the lead to 40-38 with 1:50 left. After a timeout, Barber drained the corner three.
Highlands improved to 19-2 against Scott during Richey’s tenure as head coach.
Scott (11-5) concludes a stretch of three games in three days on Thursday against another hot team in Walton-Verona at 7:30 p.m.
“(On Tuesday), we were on the opposite end of that so it was us fighting back,” Pouncy said. “Like I told them, those are games we want to play with battles like that. It’s a grind. It’s hard holding a lead like that with a young team and the way they trapped like that, we kind of just went away from going to the rim, which we had success with even with Marissa down there. It’s little things like knowing what’s a good shot versus a bad shot in those situations. But we fought.”
After 14 road or neutral site games, the Bluebirds (9-5) finally get to play in Fort Thomas for the first time this season on Saturday against Ursuline Academy (Ohio) at 11:30 a.m.
BLUEBIRDS 45, EAGLES 40
HIGHLANDS — 10-9-7-19 — 45
SCOTT — 9-12-13-6 — 40
Scoring
Highlands (45) – Green 19, Barton 9, Orme 9, Barber 8
Scott (40) – Kaia Peterson 11, Kourtney Peterson 11, Mejia 7, Price 5, Spencer 3, Sanders 3
Game Stats
Free Throws: Highlands 9/20, Scott 7/12
Fouls: Highlands 7, Scott 14
Records: Highlands 9-5, Scott 11-5