Despite a good fight from both underdogs, the favorites stood tall at WACO on Tuesday, as the Highland girls picked up a 56-45 win, while the WACO boys earned a 59-42 victory.

The WACO girls came out firing, looking to defend their home floor against the champions of the SEISC-North. The Warriors took a 14-10 lead after the first, and built the lead to 8 by halftime, 30-22. However, Highland started a slow but steady come back starting in the third quarter, with Hailey Brun and Kamryn Fink leading the charge. A 17-5 third quarter let the Huskies take the lead, and 17-10 fourth quarter would seal the deal, with Highland remaining unbeaten in conference play and continuing toward their next goal of going totally unbeaten before the SEISC Shootout.

Head coach Jody Fink shared what the conversation in the locker room was like, with his team down 30-22, ahead of the second half. “Honestly, we just talked about intensity. We had to sit there and bring it. We didn’t, we gotta sit there and communicate, which we weren’t doing very well. We did a better job of that in the second half. But communication, bringing the intensity, and being disciplined as well.”

Kamryn Fink led the Huskies with 26 points, while Hailey Brun added 16. WACO had no double-digit scorers, but were led by Brenna Graber’s 9. Carlee Lunsford and Madelyn Farmer each had 8. Highland improves to 16-2, and 14-0 in the SEISC-North. WACO falls to 7-11, and 4-10 in the conference.

Like the WACO girls before them, the Highland boys came out hot. The Huskies hit six three-pointers in the first quarter, and stormed out to a 22-10 lead. Unfortunately for Highland, that streak would run cold in the second, with the Warriors quickly closing the gap and taking a lead into halftime, 29-27. Things would only get tougher for the Huskies in the second half, with WACO outscoring the Huskies 30-15 over the final two quarters. WACO cruised through the final few minutes to claim a 59-42 win.

Despite the big win, things haven’t been easy for the Warriors. Sickness has forced WACO to experiment with their starting lineup. Head coach Chayse Roth spoke about his decision to give 6’7″ senior Adam Stafford his first start late in the regular season. “We’ve been going through some sickness as a team. We got Holden Hughes back tonight, but had a couple more call and say that they were sick and couldn’t make it. So, he’s played really well too, it’s not just that, he’s earned it. He’s a huge body down low, he can hold the ball above his head and a lot of teams don’t have guys tall enough that they can even touch the ball. He’s really starting to figure out basketball, and that’s helped a lot.”

WACO improves to 9-8 with the win, and 9-4 in the SEISC-North. Highland drops to 2-15, and 2-11 in the conference.