It may have been frigid outside, but the nets were scorching in Wayland on Thursday when a shooting barrage broke out between WACO and Highland in a class 1A first round regional. In a game that had 16 made 3-pointers, it was the Warrior girls on the plus side of a 56-50 slugfest.

The playoff meeting was tight throughout with WACO holding a slight 25-23 lead at half and the two-point advantage stayed true heading into the fourth. Highland’s Dani Laughlin connected five times from deep in the second half and had six total only to be outdone by WACO’s Ellah Kissell. The sophomore set a new school record with seven three-point buckets including back-to-back in the early stages of the fourth to stretch a one-point lead to seven. Kissell led all scorers with 24 points and Aubri Garnsey was 6-for-6 from the line to tally 12 points. Laughlin recorded 20 points to lead the Huskies and Abbi Stransky had 16. 

WACO improves to 8-12 and advances to Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal at Burlington Notre Dame (17-1). Highland closes the year 2-13 and says goodbye to a pair of seniors in Jenna Sands and Kayla Cerny.