By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was evident from Monday's opening minutes that Highland Park's Meadowlark Conference home game against Kansas City-Schlagle was going to be a blowout.
Sophomore Pearmella Carter scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Highland Park's 79-11 win over KC-Schlagle. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But even though the Scots cruised to a 79-11 rout after scoring the first 21 points, Highland Park coach Rob Brown said his team (12-3 overall, 8-0 in the conference) got what it needed to get out of Monday's game.
"The main thing we came into tonight talking about was just getting the ball moving side to side better, sharing the ball and just trying to stay engaged the whole game and being able to finish games the right away and just keep growing as a team,'' Brown said.
"I felt like we grew as a team tonight.''
KC-Schlagle (1-7, 1-7) did not get on the scorboard until the Stallions connected on a 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the first quarter and Highland Park led 25-3 at the start of the second quarter.
Things only got worse for the Stallions from that point on, with Highland Park using a 20-6 second quarter to go up 45-9 at the half.
A running clock was used throughout the second half, with the Scots finishing off the rout with a 24-2 scoring edge over the final two quarters.
Ten different Highland Park players cracked the scoring column, led by sophomore Pearmella Carter, who finished with 20 points and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Sophomore Majesty Grace came off the bench to score 12 points while freshman Ciarra Hartz had 10 off the bench.
Schlagle only had four field goals on the night (three 3-pointers) and got a team-high 6 points from Janya Richardson.
HIGHLAND PARK 79, KC-SCHLAGLE 11
KC-Schlagle 3 6 2 0 -- 11
Highland Park 25 20 18 16 -- 79
KC-Schlagle (1-7, 1-7) – Ashley 0-5 0-0 0, Price 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 2-9 0-0 6, Hervey 2-11 0-2 5, McKinnies 0-3 0-0 0, Sykes 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-7 0-2 0. Totals 4-35 0-4 11.
Highland Park (12-3, 8-0) – Paredes 3-9 0-0 7, Broils 4-9 0-0 9, Rice 2-4 0-0 4, Sanders 3-4 0-1 7, Carter 9-14 2-4 20, Grace 6-12 0-0 12, Cosey 1-3 0-0 2, Kincade 2-5 0-0 4, Hartz 4-7 1-3 10, Jones 2-4 0-2 4, Atkins 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 36-73 3-12 79.
3-point goals – KC-Schlagle 3 (Richardson 2, Hervey), Highland Park 4 (Paredes, Broils, Hartz, Sanders). Total fouls – KC-Schlagle 12, Highland Park 8. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.