Highland women's basketball team capped off a record breaking season with 87-79 victory over Mesa Community College in the NJCAA DII National Tournament third place game.
Scotties opened the scoring in the contest with a
Blaize Burgess three-pointer but Mesa had an early answer going up 5-3. The Scotties then answered back with a run to gain the lead on a
Berniezha Tidwell bucket and one to go up 7-6. Up by as many as six points the Scotties at the end of the first quarter got a put back bucket by
Tamia Victor to lead 21-18. Highland turned up the pressure a few notches in the second quarter to work the lead up to 10-points going up 29-19 and contributions continued to come from everywhere as the Scotties posted a 26-13 second quarter to lead 47-31 at halftime.
Out of halftime Highland put together an 11-0 run behind a few
Mariane De Caravalho buckets and a Burgess three-pointer, but the Scotties struggled to score to finish the third quarter and Mesa put a run together to cut the lead to four-points at 68-64 with around five minutes left in the contest. Scotties end the Mesa run and push the lead back up to 10 and using free throws down the stretch kept the lead out of reach for Mesa to earn the 87-79 win.
Leading the way for the Scotties in the win was Caravalho who posted a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while
Kamryn Lemon had her best tournament game finishing with 18 points. Tidwell and Burgess each chipped 14 points, while Tidwell added six rebounds, four assists and three steals and Burgess snagged seven rebounds.
The win avenges the Scotties Overtime loss in 2014 National Championship game against Mesa and caps the season at 35-1 for Highland a record for most wins in a single season while the third place finish is the second best finish at Nationals for the Scotties.