By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After winning its first game since the 2019-20 season earlier in the week, Highland Park girls basketball looked to build a winning streak as they played host to Manhattan Friday evening.
Early on there were positive signs but the Indians were able to pull away in the second half, posting a 64-34 Centennial League win on Ken Darting Court.
“In the first half we were pretty good, playing under control, doing everything we had been working on and then we've just got to learn to put a full game together,” said Highland Park coach Rob Brown.
The 64-34 loss marked the third most points put up by the Scots this year, but the game still moved them to 1-6 on the season. With the win, Manhattan improved to 4-4 on the year.
“We got some inside scoring from Grace (Dixon), Avery (Larson) was really good again, but everybody chipped in a little bit, so I was really pleased with how we played,” Indians coach Scott Mall said.
The baskets came fast and furious to begin the game, with Manhattan jumping out to a 14-6 lead after seven early points by junior Larson. Highland Park responded with a quick 4-0 run, finished off with the second basket of the quarter from freshman Amelia Ramsey. That left the score at 16-10 after eight minutes.
The Scots got the first five points of the second quarter to pull within one point before Manhattan connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to go along with four points in the quarter from senior Grace Dixon to push the lead to double-digits.
Senior Atiya Gonzales connected on a 3-pointer to keep Highland Park involved but they still trailed 29-19 heading into the break.
The Scots got four early points in the third quarter from senior Aisya Taylor to pull within eight points. The Indians responded with a 9-0 run, with five coming from Larson,to pull ahead, 40-23. The lead would grow to 20 points by the end of the third quarter.
“I think that they kind of got us sped up a little bit and we were getting tired, so us getting tired kind of hurt us on the defensive end. We weren’t staying in a stance, stopped talking, stopped rotating,” Brown said.
Manhattan continued the pace in the fourth quarter, led by eight points from sophomore Maxine Doering in the frame. Gonzales knocked in another 3-pointer, scoring four of the seven points for Highland Park in the quarter as they fell, 64-34.
“We will get to that point, it’s still early in the season, we are still learning, we know what this season is, it’s a rebuilding season so we are going to get better every night,” Brown said.
Gonzales led the Scots in scoring with 12 points while Taylor added eight in the loss that moved them to 1-6 on the season.
For the Indians, Larson paced all scorers with 18 points while Dixon and Doering were in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively, as Manhattan moved to 4-4 on the year.
Next up for Highland Park will be a road trip to face Junction City Jan. 11.
MANHATTAN GIRLS 64, HIGHLAND PARK 34,
Manhattan 16 13 18 17 -- 64
Highland Park 10 9 8 7-- 34
Highland Park (1-6 0-6) – Gonzales 3-18 3-4 12, Parker-Brown 0-1 1-2 1, Sanders 1-1 0-0 2, Reed 1-4 0-2 2, White 0-0 0-0 0, Nunes 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor 3-14 2-6 8, Ramsey 3-5 1-3 7, Mitchell 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 12-45 7-17 34.
Manhattan (4-4, 3-3) – Sharda 0-0 0-0 0, Carson 1-1 2-2 4, Sa. Salmans 0-1 1-4 1, Ingram 1-3 0-0 3, Peabody 0-0 0-0 0, Larson 7-19 2-4 18, So. Salmans 1-4 0-0 2, Doering 4-12 4-4 12, Ruliffson 3-6 0-2 7, Jimenez 0-0 2-2 0, Dixon 7-11 1-2 15. Totals 23-57 12-20 64.
3-point goals – Highland Park 3 (Gonzales 3), Manhattan 3 (Larson 2, Ruliffson 1). Total fouls – Highland Park 14 Manhattan 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – Highland Park 1 (Rob Brown 1).
