IMO, a turning point of the game was with Conner down by 6 points, Towles was caught throwing an elbow to the face of Gilbreath. She was assessed a technical foul and Conner made the three throws. They got possession and scored, then had a stop and scored again to tie the game.

 

Conner's defense was much better than in the first game. Although Allen scored 16 or so points she was hounded all night by Beasley who had several blocked shots on her. Allen did have several steals in the game and converted on several.

 

Sorry to see Cutter go down with an ankle injury. Her presence would have helped Highlands.

 

How serious is Cutter's injury? Will she be back anytime soon?

IMO, a turning point of the game was with Conner down by 6 points, Towles was caught throwing an elbow to the face of Gilbreath. She was assessed a technical foul and Conner made the three throws. They got possession and scored, then had a stop and scored again to tie the game.

 

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Did it happen during play or during a dead ball? If it happened during play it was an intentional foul and not a T. Its an important distinction since two Ts result in an ejection. It also has an impact as an intentional foul is shot by the person fouled (elbow-ee in this case) vs a T where any player can shoot.

How serious is Cutter's injury? Will she be back anytime soon?

 

I don't know. I know she's had ankle problems before. She's a great young lady and if she's out any time she will be missed!

Did it happen during play or during a dead ball? If it happened during play it was an intentional foul and not a T. Its an important distinction since two Ts result in an ejection. It also has an impact as an intentional foul is shot by the person fouled (elbow-ee in this case) vs a T where any player can shoot.

 

To be honest with you, I didn't see that foul. I do know that during the break in play there was a foul called on a Conner girl. At the same time or maybe after the initial foul, there was a foul called on Towles. Thought it was a technical. I do know Conner sent Fischer (I think) to the line to shoot two free throws and then Conner got the ball back.

Did it happen during play or during a dead ball? If it happened during play it was an intentional foul and not a T. Its an important distinction since two Ts result in an ejection. It also has an impact as an intentional foul is shot by the person fouled (elbow-ee in this case) vs a T where any player can shoot.

 

Dead ball.

It's is getting to be crunch-time at Highlands and some tough decisions need to be made. Highlands did the other night did what they did against NCC. They get up and quickly forget what got them there. In the NCC game with Tabor out of the game most of the second quarter, you would expect Highlands to just absolutely jam it inside where they had success in the first quarter with Tabor in the game. It didn't happen. In this game up big in the second 1st quarter Highlands again had a repeat performance of the second quarter against NCC. Either and unwillingness or inability to pound the ball inside.

Some will say you need to develop the other players. Development is over at this point. It is about winning games from here on out. In the game against Conner the other night in the second quarter it wasn't that the Highlands shooter wasn't open it was the fact there was a better shot to be had. Unless this mentality changes real soon a very good basketball team will be going home early.

Too bad for Allen and Towles we are now talking about the future. Sheer travesty if they don't win a region.

Agree completely. Lots of talent has passed through Highlands the past 4 years without a region title. It looks like this won't be the year either.

I think the formula you are suggesting is the key. HHS girls program has a history of playing kids up several years and leaving voids in the middle.

 

The biggest example of this is this years Jr. class. I am not close enough to the program to know the reasons the girls are not still in the program, but I do know that when this group played in middle school they were very talented. Breslin, Hempfling, and Theisen were very good young players. There were others. The Soph class was not a very talented or committed group, but 1 or 2 could have filled a role if they still were playing.

 

IMO, when you constantly move girls up you eliminate the role players that could help when they mature to Juniors and Seniors. Most freshmen girls are not ready to compete with girls 3 and 4 years older. I know the frosh at HHS are a talented group, but they would benefit from being placed on the frosh or JV team and allowed to mature.

I truley agree with this example. I know there are schools that have no choice to play up girls because of the size of the school but that is not the case all the time. I have seen 7th graders running the point at the Varsity level. The maturity is not there. There have been crunch time decisions and the lack of experience definitely shows. I have seen talented girls fall to the wayside because of pulling up middle school girls.