by Points were hard to come by as the Hornets and Demons hooked it up for a mid-December clash. In the end, the Highland Hornets pulled away late from the foul line to win 46-36 on the road. The Hornets were led by the three point shooting of Grace Madison who drained 5 from long range to finish with 15 points while teammate Aleena VanKirk sunk 9 from the foul line for a 13 point effort. Kennedy Morgan of the Hornets had 6 from the line in an 8-point scoring effort a well.
The Demons were led by Ella Henton with 11, Ella Stanton with 8, Lydia Tymoszcuk with 9 while Lauryn Stanton had 6 and Anika Norris scored 2. Taylor Kress, Rachel Nash and Shea Ireland all played, but couldn’t make the scoresheet on this night as the Hornet defense was solid all game.
A low scoring first quarter saw it end tied 7-7, with most of those points coming in the last 90 seconds of the quarter, including a 3 at the buzzer by Ella Stanton of the Demons. Down 9-7 early into the second, Westlake battled back with a layup from Ella Hented followed by a Lydia Tymoszczuk three ball to take a 12-9 lead with 5:11 to play.
The Demons stayed hot from there draining two more from long range from the hands of Lydia Tymoszczuk and Ella Stanton. The Hornets answered with big shots from Grace Madison and Grace Weber to make it a one-point game at the break, with Westlake on top 20-19.
Grace Madison hit her third triple of the game to place the Hornets ahead 22-20 just seconds into the second half. A few possessions later it was Lauryn Stanton nailing a three to answer. Grace Madison would hit another triple with 20 seconds to go in the quarter, as she bookend the frame with long balls. This along with stout defense and 4 foul shots from Kennedy Morgan earned the Hornets a 31-28 lead after 3 quarters of action from the Demons Lear.
Ella Henton pulled the Demons ahead with 5 points in the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter, to give the Demons a 33-32 lead. The Hornets struck right back with 7 straight from Madison and VanKirk to reclaim control at 39-33 midway through the fourth. The Hornets used great foul shooting from there to seal the win at 46-36.
Westlake 7 13 8 8 = 36
Highland 7 12 12 15 = 46
