One final Area Game of the Week contest before the Thanksgiving holiday plays out tonight in Riverside, and this Thanksgiving appetizer sees a SEISC rivalry as pure as pumpkin pie between the Highland Huskies and the #10 in Class 1A Lone Tree Lady Lions.
The Highland Huskies enter play tonight unbeaten at 2-0 after wins at the Four Corners Shootout over Keota and Iowa Valley. Freshman Kamryn Fink has been the story for Jody Fink’s team that was faced with replacing all but one starter over the offseason. Fink finished with 20 points in her varsity debut last Friday against the Eagles coupled with 20 rebounds for a double-double. She followed that up with another double-double Saturday night against the Tigers with a statline of 18 points and 11 boards. In their two games, Highland puts up 56 points-per-game, and gives up 47.5, shooting 37.4 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from three, and 56 percent at the line. The Huskies are off to a hot start rebounding thanks to the freshman Fink, as they own a Class 1A-leading 46 per game. Highland is also top five in the class with their 16.5 assists and four blocks a contest.
The #10 in 1A Lone Tree Lady Lions will look to take down their Riverside rivals for the fifth time in a row tonight. Lone Tree also went unbeaten at the Four Corners Shootout, defeating Iowa Valley on Friday and Keota on Saturday. In their game with the Eagles, junior Finley Jacque finished as the leading scorer with 13 points. Junior Ava Christofferson followed with 11, while Vivian Zaruba had 10. Zaruba finished with 13 boards for her first double-double of the season. Through two games, Lone Tree puts up 39.3 points-per-game and gives up 38, shooting 33.9 percent from the field, 17.6 percent from three, and 51.5 percent from the stripe. Per game, the Lady Lions gather over 22 boards and turn the ball over less than 12 times.
Highland Head Coach Jody Fink joined KCII Sports postgame after their win over Keota on Friday to talk about things he would like to see fixed before tonight’s matchup with Lone Tree. “We’re just very very young, and when we got going we were a little undisciplined and out of control. We’ve got to rail that in,” Fink said. “We’ll be alright once we get going. We’ll be good. Our girls will fight and battle.”
Lone Tree Head Coach Ryan Shelman also spoke with KCII Sports after his team’s victory over Iowa Valley on Friday. “Our starters, I thought, really did a great job,” Shelman said. “Finley Jacque did phenomenal handling the pressure with the ball. We were able to get to the basket with Ava Christofferson, and Vivian Zaruba did a great job as always at the top of our defense. Rylee Shield, Alyson Ford and Cate Sexton were just awesome on the boards for us on both ends. Those are the things we’re going to need to get better at on Tuesday.”
In the Varsity Bound era, Highland leads a loaded all-time series with Lone Tree 19-14 dating back to 2006. The Lady Lions have won the past four matchups, including the latest in the series on January 27th by a final of 54-39.
You can hear all of the rivalry action live tonight between Highland and Lone Tree streaming exclusively online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream beginning with pregame coverage at 7, and tipoff between the Huskies and Lady Lions at 7:30 p.m. from Highland High School.