When the final buzzer sounded Friday night at Columbus High School, it was the Highland girls and Columbus boys earning season sweeps over their respective counterparts in an Area Game of the Week split heard live on the KCII3 Stream.

The girls game began the night, and it was Highland that showed no apparent signs of any rust after one week since last seeing the floor, racing out to a 9-0 run to lead 14-2 after one. Gaining more second chance opportunities for their offense, the Wildcats would eat into the deficit before half to make it a 20-12 game. Kayce Schnoebelen and Autumn Guseman would help the Huskies off the bench in the third with one three-pointer each en route to again outscore Columbus heading into the final frame. With a 13-point cushion, Highland decided they weren’t done, splashing in five fourth quarter threes from three different players to secure the win with a 54-30 final.

Unofficially, Highland won rebounds 38-29, losing turnovers by 6. They were led by senior Emersyn Schultz with 11 points and Kamryn Fink with 10. The duo joined KCII Sports postgame to talk about the win.

“ We’ve been struggling a little bit with communicating and we communicated a little better tonight and I think we just came out strong tonight and we kept it all the way throughout the end,” Schultz said.

“After we got a few rotations, then those threes were falling from the right corner and we were also getting the open looks down in the post and our offense when we were moving the ball quite a bit,” Fink said.

Hailey Brun, Katelyn Thomann and Schultz all chipped in to rain down the five threes in the fourth. Columbus was led by Iris Garza’s game-high 12. The win pushes Highland’s win streak to 13-in-a-row at 13-1 still unbeaten in the Superconference North. The loss drops the ‘Cats to 5-8 overall and 5-7 in league play.

The boys game was also full of action, seeing Columbus take a 66-53 win. It was the opposite start from the girls game for the Wildcat boys, as they outscored Highland 13-4 after one period powered by a 9-1 run down the stretch. The second period would be the most successful of the night for Columbus, adding nine more to their lead to make it 35-17 at the break. Forcing turnovers, the Huskies began to make a comeback in the third frame. They gained six points back to make it an 11-point affair headed into the final eight minutes. Columbus would quell the Highland momentum with a 7-0 run in the first half of the final period to get the gap as high as 19. Highland was not done, but did not have enough time to complete the comeback, as the ‘Cats scored the season sweep.

Unofficially, Columbus won the glass by nine, but lost turnovers by four. The Wildcats hit a total of 11 three-pointers in the win, led by game-high scorer Ellis Hills-Carrier’s six from deep. He finished with an unofficial 32 points, followed by Drake Marin’s 21. Highland was led by an outstanding night from senior Bryce Hazelett with 31 points of the team’s 53. After the game, Columbus senior Gabriel Zuniga spoke with KCII Sports about his confidence level when the team hits shots from downtown.

“[It] gives me a lot of confidence because I know that if I can penetrate the paint, I can kick it out and I would know that it’s going in because we’ve been shooting lights out,” Zuniga said.

The win raises Columbus’ record to 7-5, 6-5 in the north. The loss drops Highland to 2-10 on the year, 2-8 in conference.