After being unable to open Conference play earlier in the week the #3 Highland Women's basketball team was eager to get KJCCC action rolling and they did on Saturday as the hosted Labette.

Scotties knew they would have a battle on their hands and it proved to be that way as Highland sealed a 74-72 win over Labette with a game winning bucket by Janiya Davis on a roll to the basket and assist from Tuana Dinc with 2.8 seconds left in the game.

The win move Highland to 17-1 on the season and 1-0 in KJCCC as they have now won eight in a row versus Labette, 14-straight KJCCC games and 33-straight home games.

After a slow start to the game Highland worked to a 20-9 lead in the first quarter but Labette forced the Scotties into 11 first quarter turnovers and remained close as it was 20-14 at the end of the first quarter. The game was tied at 27-27 with 5:22 left in the first half when a Davis three-pointer sparked a 9-0 run by Highland and ultimately helped the Scotties led 36-29 at halftime.

Highland worked the lead back to double figures in the third quarter but a 6-0 run by Labette dwindled the lead back to within a few scores and heading into the fourth the Scotties held a 58-53 lead. Dinc drained a pair of big three-pointers to help hold off Labette in the fourth quarter until the Cardinals drew within two at 72-70 with 25.4 seconds left and had the ball. Labette got a pair of free throws from Upe Atosu to tie the game at 72-72 with 11.5 seconds left. The Scotties called a timeout to set up the play and advance the ball into the halfcourt and out of the timeout they executed well with Davis rolling to the basket and Dinc finding her for the go ahead basket with 2.8 seconds ultimately lifting Highland to the 74-72 win.

In contest the Scotties despite being out rebounded held Labette to 32.5% shooting for the contest and forced 19 Cardinal turnovers, while also going 23-33 from the free throw line.

Davis paced the Scotties with her first career double-double scoring 23 points while grabbing 12 rebounds and also went 10-10 from the free throw line, while adding three blocks, two steals and two assists. Stefania Chiziane chipped in 16 points with seven rebounds and went 8-13 from the free throw line and Dinc had 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists. Tiana Gipson was the fourth Scottie to tallying double figures scoring 10 points.

UP NEXT
Conference play continues on Monday, January 28^th as Highland travels to Johnson County for a rescheduled contest it will be the Scotties second Conference matchup in seven day span that started with Saturday's contest versus Labette. The Women's contest at Johnson County will pit the #3 Scotties versus the #1 Cavaliers and is set to tip at 5:30pm. (Game will be live streamed on Scottie Sports Network – watch live)