The Highland Huskies are moving on in the Class 1A Region 6 tournament after knocking off the Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves for the third time this season, 64-35.

The Huskies were the favorites heading into the matchup, and they played like it. Highland came out hot, opening up a 21-5 lead by the end of the first. Winfield-Mt. Union, a team that has seen massive improvement over the course of the season, was able to steady themselves a bit in the second, even going shot-for-shot with the SEISC-North champs at certain points, but a 20-17 second quarter gave Highland the 41-22 halftime advantage.

Scoring slowed down in the second half, with Highland mustering just 23 points in the second half, but their defense held firm, only allowing 13 points the other way. While the lead never grew into running clock territory, the Huskies still cruised to a comfortable 29-point win, 64-35.

Head coach Jody Fink says his team started out well, but made some mistakes that they’ll need to clean up in the next round. “I thought we did a pretty good job in the first half, especially hitting the boards and all that. Second half we got a little lackadaisical with the ball, and had a few more turnovers that we really shouldn’t of had. But we did a good job of sharing the ball underneath, great job passing from the high post, low post, cross the lane, looking backdoor and everything there.”

Emmersyn Schultz led Highland with 15 points. Hailey Brun and Katelyn Thomann each had 11 a piece. Winfield-Mt. Union junior Suttyn Schlee led the Wolves with 13. Highland improves to 20-3 this season, while Winfield-Mt. Union finishes its season at 3-19.

The Huskies will face off against the Keota Eagles in the next round on Tuesday. The Eagles defeated Hillcrest Academy 57-27 in their first round matchup. Highland and Keota have met once this season, in each team’s very first game of the new season. Keota won that contest, 73-51.