Photo Courtesy of Pekin Basketball Social Media

The Highland girls and boys basketball programs had a special opportunity Friday to play a Southeast Iowa Superconference doubleheader against the Pekin Panthers at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines.

The Highland girls were a 40-31 neutral-site winner. Guided by their defense, Highland was on top 11-6 after one and 22-17 at half. Pekin hung around at 30-26 going to the fourth, but Highland closed with a 10-5 run over the final eight minutes to get the win. Head coach of the Huskies Jody Fink spoke on the KCII Radio Coaches Corner Saturday about his team’s defense and standouts. “We controlled the boards, limited our turnovers. We were patient. On defense we did a good job on Anna Hadley, held her below her average. We did a pretty good job communicating. It was a good experience for us and we played pretty well all the way around. We had good balance offensively and a lot of contributions defensively. Kamryn (Fink) led us with 11 points, Kinzie Ruess had nine. Kenzie Davis gave us a good boost there as well. Hailey Brun, Katelyn Thoman and then Emersyn Schultz came up big. Autumn Guseman was another one. Emily Herrig came in and helped us out defensively.”

Each team shot 33%, Highland won rebounding 35-27, assists 14-8, turnovers 24-15 and had 11 steals. Kamryn Fink led Highland with 11 points and four steals. Mackenzie Davis had 11 rebounds and Katelyn Thomann five assists. Carlie Gambell led Pekin with 12 points. The Huskies have won nine straight to run their record to 9-1 while Pekin falls to 4-4.

The boys contest saw the Panthers pull away in the second half for an 80-38 win. Pekin led 11-6 after the first and 30-17 at half, but won the second stanza 50-21, including a 30 point third and 20-3 run to close to game and seal the win. Cole Millikin led the Panthers with 25 points, Riley Smith had 14 and Henry Adam 10. The Panthers climb to 6-2 while Highland drops to 1-7.