Box Score Back at the National Tournament for the first time since 2014 the Highland Women's basketball team opened the 2018 NJCAA DII Tournament with a 75-23 victory over Macomb.

With an early start the contest both teams started the contest slow with most of the early points in the game coming from the free throw line and the Scotties led 18-15 after the first quarter. Berniezha Tidwell made an early bucket in the second quarter to give herself 10 first half points and help Highland keep Macomb at bay but the Monarchs managed to flip the lead in their favor  multiple times in the first half with seven lead changes before intermission but the Scotties held a 32-27 lead at the half.

Out of halftime Highland put the clamps on defensively and opened the second half on a 14-0 run to push the lead to double figures for the first time in the contest. The Scotties continued to force turnovers and crash the offensive glass and behind a 23-9 third quarter and led 55-36. Highland finished off the contest securing the first round win via a 75-53 score.

Coach Smith talked about the teams second half adjustments ""I thought in the second half our shot selection was drastically better. We got to making the extra pass which is what we are good at, made them work harder. Kind of made some adjustments with our offense and that helped us loose up a little bit," said Smith.

While the Scotties shot just 38.4% from the floor they held Macomb to a measly 28.6% from the floor and forced 28 turnovers. Highland also snatched 15 offensive rebounds in the contest and recorded 15 assists on 28 made field goals.

Mariane De Caravalho led Highland with 22 points and broke the single season scoring record at Highland adding seven rebounds to her day, while Tidwell finished with 14 points, five assists and four steals. Niccolly Ramalho recorded 10 points and had three assists, rebounds and steals; her three steals gave her the single season steals record at Highland.

"We struggled early with getting rhythm, so at halftime he (Coach Smith) told us we had to fix that. The defense was there the whole game I feel like. We got more rhythm in the second half and just really worked the court offensively for us and started hitting more shots and creating for the team," said Tidwell

The win improves the Scotties to 33-0 on the season and punches their ticket to the Elite Eight of the NJCAA DII National Tournament in Harrison, Arkansas. Highland will take on Cape Fear (beat Kankakee 95-71 in first round) in the Quarterfinals and will play at 6:00pm on Wednesday, March 21st.