Thanks to St. Elizabeth Healthcare Sports Medicine for sponsoring our girls’ high school basketball coverage this season. See all of our girls’ basketball stories here and watch for state tournament coverage March 9-13 from BB&T Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University.
By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
One of the good things about having seniors in the starting lineup when it comes to tournament time is their will to win. They don’t want their careers to end and they’ll do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.
That was a big factor in the opening game of the 9th Region girls’ basketball tournament on Monday when Highlands defeated Holy Cross, 52-44, at BB&T Arena.
The Bluebirds won the game with a 19-6 scoring rally in the fourth quarter against the defending regional and state champions. Sixteen of those 19 points were scored by senior starters McKenzie Leigh, Brianna Adler and Haley Coffey.
“We said we’re going to lay it on the line right here,” Coffey said of the team’s strong finish. “We’re coming out and we’re going to lock down and we’re going to win this game. And that’s what happened. Everybody contributed and it was great.”
The win puts Highlands (22-10) in the regional semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. The Bluebirds will play Ryle at noon on Saturday with the winner going to the championship game at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Ryle has seven seniors on its roster who don’t want to lose either so it’ll be an interesting match-up between two highly motivated teams.
“Some of our seniors have been playing together for six years now,” Coffey said. “This is our last go-round so we’re going to come out there and give it all we got.”
Holy Cross used an 8-0 run to open up a 14-5 lead late in the first quarter of Monday’s game. But the Highlands players regained their composure and sliced the margin to 24-22 by halftime.
Coffey scored seven of the Bluebirds’ 14 points during their second-quarter rally. In the opening minutes of the third quarter, she hit a 3-point shot that gave her team its first lead of the game at 29-27.
Holy Cross freshman guard Olivia Crigler came right back with a 3-point goal of her own. That set off an 11-4 run by the Indians to put them ahead 38-33 going into the fourth quarter.
The lead changed hands four times in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter before Highlands finished it off with a 10-1 run. The Bluebirds got their final 10 points at the free throw line while Holy Cross went 0-for-6 from the field and 1-for-3 at the line in the last three minutes.
“I thought our girls did a great job of making (Holy Cross) take the tough shot and we rebounded,” Highlands coach Jaime Richey said of her team’s strong finish.
Freshman guard Zoie Barth made two steals for the Bluebirds during their game-winning run. But Richey said the first player she hugged as they came off the floor was Leigh. After getting grilled by the coach during a timeout, Leigh scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter and grabbed a couple crucial rebounds at the end.
“We told her going into the fourth quarter, ‘McKenzie this is your time, this is do or die, this is your career on the line. Are you going to step up and do what we know you can do?’” Richey said. “And I thought she really stepped up to the challenge and did a great job. We knew she would be a key if she was able to score inside.”
Barth was the team’s leading score with 14 points, followed by Coffey with 13 and Adler with 12. The double-figure scorers for Holy Cross were senior guard Dajah McClendon with 12 points and eighth-grade center Malaysia Chames with 10.
HOLY CROSS 14 10 14 6 — 44 HIGHLANDS 8 14 11 19 — 52
HOLY CROSS (16-12): Chames 5 0 10, Beal 2 2 6, McClendon 4 4 12, Tucker 1 0 2, Gabbard 2 0 5, Crigler 3 0 9. Totals: 17 6 44.
HIGHLANDS (22-10): Epperson 2 0 4, Barth 4 6 14, Adler 4 3 12, Coffey 3 6 13, Leigh 2 5 9. Totals: 15 20 52.
3-pointers: HC — Crigler 3, Gabbard. HI — Coffey, Adler.