With four players tallying in double figures, Highlands’ girls basketball team rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to down Tallulah Falls 64-49 in its season opener Monday.
Hayley Borino’s 18 points, with 16 of them coming in the second half, led what Coach Jacob Page called “a total team effort.”
“This win was a total team win across the board,” Page said following the win. “We played good defense. We rebounded. We made our free-throws. And we executed.”
In addition to Borino’s 18 points, Julia May Schmitt and Jordan Carrier added 16 points each and Bella Branham chipped in 10 points to pace the Lady Highlanders.
“Julia May carried us in the first half. She hit her shots, connected on her free throws and grabbed some big rebounds,” Page said.
All of Schmitt’s 16 points came in the first half.
Page called Tallulah Falls “an athletic team, with some good shooters,” as the Indians took at 31-24 lead into the locker room in the half.
The Lady Highlanders came out with all barrels blazing in the third quarter, blowing the doors off the barn to erase the seven-point deficit and take a 49-40 lead into the game’s final stanza.
Carrier found her groove in the third quarter, hitting a pair of threes, one of which gave Highlands the lead for keeps.
“I had trouble finding my spot in the first half, but Julia May carried us,” she said. “In the second half I found my spot and Hayley Borino started scoring. Kedra McCall made some huge defensive stops. It was a good team win.”
Page talked of his team captain doing things that do not show up in the scorebook.
“Kedra took three charges (in the second half) that were huge momentum changers for us in the second half,” he said. “She’s our leader on the floor and played a big game defensively.”
While this year’s edition of the Lady Highlanders was supposed to be an experienced team, and it is, there is significant youth on the squad as well, with three sophomores numbered among the starting five in Borino, Branham and Julia May Schmitt.
“There was one point in that game when I had four sophomores and a freshman out there,” Page said.
Page couldn’t say enough about his team’s effort on the floor and how no one player carried the load.
“Everyone played a part,” he said. “Julia May carried us in the first half, but Jordan and Hayley got hot in the second half, and Kedra’s defensive play shut the door on Tallulah Falls.”
The Tribe could only muster 18 second-half points, nine each in the third and fourth quarters.
“This was a good first game for us and a good first win,” Page said. “This gives something to build on moving forward.”
The Highlanders will look to start a winning streak when they host Rosman at 6:15 p.m. on Friday night.