The Mustangs traveled to the Fort to play the Lady Birds tonight. Pretty tight first quarter with both teams playing fairly sloppy. Mustangs hang with the Bird in the first quarter. (didn't right down Q1 score, but it was very close).

 

The second quarter went the Birds way, stretching the lead to 15 at half.

 

Birds come out of the locker room on fire and eventually stretch the lead to 48-25 at the end of the 3rd.

 

Bird continue to stay in command in the 4th with both teams emptying the benches with about 4 min left in the game.

 

The Birds played decent tonight, but not great. Their defense is always solid, but seemed like they were a little sloppy with the ball at times, didn't shoot real well and missed a ton of layups!! Scoring was pretty balanced as usual with Adler having the big night tonight with 15 points on 5 threes. The Birds defense continues to swarm...it's actually fun to watch them trap, rotate and recover. They surprise people with their length. Very good defensive team. They shot okay tonight from the 3 point line, but could have been better as them did miss some wide open shots that they typically knock down.

 

As for Brossart...they always play hard. HHS' defense had them on their heels most of the night. Brossart struggled with the pressure, but also looked good at times breaking the press with ball movement. In the preseason thread, I thought they may struggle for awhile until they find their identity. They lost a ton of varsity experience to graduation and they will take awhile to figure things out. They have some really nice players and I think this team will be completely different by season's end. Tonight was just a tough match up for them early in the season.

Congrats Birds! Brossart is young and will struggle a bit this season. Don't count them out for the All A though! :sneaky:

The Highlands Ladybirds basketball team continued its hot start Tuesday winning its home opener to move to 3-0 on the season.

Highlands downed the Bishop Brossart Lady Mustangs, 63-35. Bishop Brossart fell to 1-2 with the loss.

The Ladybirds again saw three players reach double figures in scoring and eight score total. Junior Brianna Adler led the way making 5-of-8 three-point attempts for 15 points. Eighth grader Zoie Barth followed with 12 for Highlands and senior Alex Combs scored 11 making 5-of-12 shots.

Bishop Brossart saw two players reach double figures. They were Sydney Shannon with 12 and Emily Schultz with 10.

Highlands made 21-of-57 shots for 37 percent, including 10-of-28 from three-point range for 36 percent and 11-of-18 free-throw attempts for 61 percent. Bishop Brossart made just 15-of-32 shots for 47 percent including no three-point tries and 5-of-8 free-throw attempts for 63 percent. Highlands scored one point per possession to .62 for Bishop Brossart.

The Ladybirds saw six different players making a three-pointer. In addition to Adler, Haley Coffey, Lydia Graves, Combs, Barth and Izzy Schultz all made one three-pointer each.

Highlands again played stifling defense. The Lady Mustangs had 27 turnovers to 12 for the Ladybirds. Highlands recorded 19 steals and allowed just five. Adler led Highlands with seven thefts and Combs had four. The Ladybirds outscored the Lady Mustangs, 31-4 in points off turnovers.

Highlands also distributed the ball well making 15 assists to six for Bishop Brossart. Coffey, Graves and Combs had a team-high three assists for the Ladybirds.

Bishop Brossart did edge Highlands, 30-28 in rebounds. Combs and Kristyn Lukjan had five to lead the Ladybirds and Schultz had eight for Bishop Brossart.

Highlands led just 13-11 after the first quarter. But the Ladybirds pulled away for a 32-17advantage at halftime. They led 48-25 after the third quarter.

Highlands travels to Grant County (1-2) on Friday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

 

Fort Thomas Matters Sports: Ladybirds pull away in home opener

Highlands' versatility will be a problem for just about any opponent this year, as they all defend, get in passing lanes, run the floor, penetrate, share the ball, and shoot FTs well. All 5 starters also can shoot the 3 well As an example, JR Adler was 5-8 from downtown last night.

 

Although the occasional off night is certainly possible, I am predicting 30 wins. The balance they have this year is as good as Coach Richey has had in all her years at Highlands.