Photo Courtesy of Highland Athletic Boosters Social Media

Tuesday, the Highland Huskies boys and girls basketball teams took a business trip to Wapello, handling the Indians and Arrows in both ends of a Southeast Iowa Superconference doubleheader. The boys game featured drama, and the first victory of the season for the Huskies 45-42. Defenses dictated action early, with Highland on top 8-7 after one and 19-16 at halftime. The Indians took a slim 34-32 lead into the fourth quarter. Through the latter half of the final period things were neck-and-neck. Highland had the ball with around 10 seconds remaining in the contest and just like UPS in mid-December, senior Bryce Hazelett delivered, knocking down the game winner. This week, Highland head coach Bill Zywiec talked with KCII Sports about the final moments of the game and what the win meant for his team. “Bryce (Hazelett) came through and popped open. As a senior, I just love seeing him hit that shot to win the game. As soon as he let it go I was like ‘this looks good!’. The kids were pumped! They deserved the ‘W’! It was fun to watch. To win it the way we did speaks volumes to how hard these kids have worked all season!”

Wapello out shot Highland 47-35% and won the boards 30-18. Highland had 10 steals to nine for the Indians and won turnovers 17-14. Hazelett led the way for the Huskies with 18 points and two assists, Landon Roling added 10 and a team high seven boards. Kyler Fink had three steals, Jacob Schneider three blocks. Wapello got a game high 19 points with seven boards from Justyn Faulkner with four blocks. Kinnick Richenberger had 14 points. Highland is now 1-5 with the win as Wapello tumbles to 2-4.

The girls contest saw the visitors run their win streak to seven straight with a 53-38 win. Highland trailed 12-7 after one, erased that deficit by half at 24-23 and locked things down defensively to pull away for the victory. The Huskies out shot the Arrows 37-32%, winning the glass 45-24, assists 15-6, steals 15-9 and turnovers 25-19. A Kamryn Fink double double led on the stat sheet with 16 points and 12 boards to go with six steals. Hailey Brun scored 10 as did Mackenzie Davis. Kinzie Ruess just missed a double double with nine points and 10 boards, Emersyn Schultz had a team best five helpers. Macey Kuntz was the Wapello leader with her own 12 point, 10 rebound double double. The Huskies stand at 7-1, 6-0 atop the North Division of the Superconference, while the Arrows are 4-3.