The old adage “Survive and Advance” was introduced for games exactly like the one that played out in Riverside on Thursday. The Highland girls eked out a 54-52 overtime victory over Lisbon (7-15) in a first round class 1A region six game. 

The visiting Lions were the team early on eager to not let their season end, as they built a 17-8 advantage after one. A 16-10 Highland second made it a three point ball game at half and it was a four point Lisbon lead after three. The home Huskies won the fourth by a 15-11 count and 5-3 in the extra four minutes. Lisbon sunk a three to open the overtime, but a pair of Highland buckets, a free throw, and a stop in the closing seconds sealed the postseason victory. Abbi Stransky led all scorers with 21 points despite leaving late in the game due to injury. Sarah Burton tallied 14 points and eight rebounds while Dani Laughlin recorded eight points. Head Coach Jody Fink tells KCII Sports his team did enough to move on. “We got into foul trouble and didn’t do a great job of recognizing shooters, but we persevered through that. It has been a few years since we have been able to get to the second round and I am really proud of our girls and our seniors to persevere through adversity.”

The Huskies improve to 12-10 and they advance to Tuesday’s quarterfinal bout at Montezuma (17-4).