On Sunday, March 3rd, the Highlands Girls Varsity basketball team faced off against the Notre Dame Academy Pandas in an exciting neck-and-neck game.
The birds were off to a rough start, with the bluebirds not scoring until under a minute left when Sophomore Saylor Macke made a three and two free throws to end the first quarter 5-9. The Birds had a good second quarter, limiting the Pandas to only 3 points. This led the Birds to make a run, going up 15-12 at the half.
The game was a game of runs, with Notre Dame hitting a few shots, and then Highlands responding. This is how the whole third quarter went, but the Birds stayed on top keeping the lead by 1 going into the fourth quarter.
The Pandas responded in the fourth, by going up 6 at one point in the quarter. The Birds focused on fundamentals and defense, and they were able to switch back the momentum of the game, and the game became tied. The game was tied with about 10 seconds left. The ball got passed to Junior Marissa Green at the free throw line and made a spin-around jumper with less than three seconds to go.
The Pandas called a timeout with 2.4 seconds left in hopes of getting a shot off, but the Bluebirds’ defense made it difficult, resulting in a missed halfcourt shot by the Pandas. The Birds won the game 39-37.
This win was the first 9th Region first-round win by the Bluebirds since 2021. The Birds hope to keep this momentum when going into the second round. Sophomore Kaylee Mills reflected on this, stating, “The last win felt so good. It is always a good feeling when we beat NDA. I feel like as a team we were playing stress-free, and it was fun. It is allowing for us to have good momentum and it puts us in a good place going forward.”
The Birds play next on Friday, March 8, vs. Ryle at 6:30 at Truist Arena.
