The WACO Warriors and Highland Huskies met for the second time this season on the KCII Area Game of the Week, and this time it was a boy/girl split in Wayland, with the Huskie girls getting revenge over the Warrior girls and the WACO boys capturing the season sweep over Highland in the nightcap.

The girls game was dominated by a flurry of first half fouls and free throws, seeing Highland lead 19-17 after the first 16 minutes. The Huskies would make their hay in the third quarter, outscoring WACO 30-13 to push their advantage to 19 by the end of the third. The Warriors proved they had a late push left in them, but their late rally ended up falling short, as Highland put the game on ice at the charity stripe, going 11/14 from the foul line in the fourth period alone to get the win 64-53.

Unofficially, WACO would outrebound Highland by 10, but the Huskies would commit four fewer turnovers. Washington County Hospital and Clinics Player of the Game, Kamryn Fink, led the way for the victorious Huskies, scoring 27 in the win. Fink joined KCII Sports postgame to discuss the challenges of rebounding and the adversity of foul trouble presented during the game, and how the team worked through those challenges to get the win. “Boxing out and rebounding. We definitely focused on fixing that after halftime, and it definitely showed with less fouls,” Fink said.

WACO was led on the night by Madelyn Farmer’s 16, followed by Courtney Waterhouse’s 12.

In the boys game, WACO would turn the tables and defeat Highland for the second time this season by a final of 77-49. The game was separated early by a 22-7 first quarter run by the Warriors, which they would add onto from there, outscoring Highland the rest of the way in the victory.

Unofficially, WACO won both the rebounding and turnover battles by six and seven, respectively. All but three of WACO’s players scored in the win, and they were led by Christian Stacy’s 18, Isaac Egli’s 14 and Hayden Shelman’s 12. Egli joined KCII Sports postgame to discuss the dominant win. “Hopefully this win will just carry some momentum the rest of the season. Our goal is to win out in conference to secure the second place spot,” Egli said.

Highland was led by a career night from senior William Dunbar, who finished with 16 points.

The WACO boys and Highland girls improve to 13-4 and 13-6 overall respectively, while the Warrior girls and Highland boys drop to 11-7 and 1-15 overall respectively. WACO is next in action Friday at Columbus, while Highland travels to Pekin Friday. The Area Game of the Week will return Friday evening as well, with SICL action between the Sigourney Savages and the English Valleys Bears.