High school basketball: Highland girls roll Aurora to stay unbeaten

GRANGER TWP. — The great news for the Highland girls basketball team is that it's still unbeaten. The even greater news is the young Hornets are still getting better. James Madison's team played one of its best games of the season Wednesday, rolling five-time defending Suburban League American Conference champion Aurora 75-46 in a contest that was over a few minutes after the opening tip. In improving to 14-0, 8-0 — it's the best start in program history — the Hornets got 22 points and seven rebounds from senior shooting guard Maddie Miller and a career-high 18 points and seven boards off the bench from freshman Kennedy Morgan. More importantly, Highland moved one step closer to winning its first league crown since 1980 and all but eliminated the title hopes of the Greenmen (5-5, 5-3). The Hornets, who had dropped eight straight to Aurora entering this season, beat the Greenmen 55-36 in the teams' first meeting. "We knew beating Aurora two times and giving them their third conference loss would probably mean putting the final nail in their coffin," Miller said. "My whole high school career, we've never been able to beat Aurora at home. Hopefully, we'll be able to take that league title from them." Using a full-court press and tenacious man-to-man defense, Highland scored four points in the first 48 seconds and led 11-4 with 3:30 remaining in the opening quarter, at which time Miller already had eight points. The Hornets closed the first period on a 9-0 run to go up 20-7, led 39-24 at intermission and were ahead 61-32 after three quarters, at which time Aurora was 10-for-41 from the field (.244) and had committed 17 turnovers. "We wanted to make sure we played great defense and started strong," Morgan said. "Scoring early was definitely a priority." Morgan, a Jordan Clarkson-type player off the bench, had 10 points by intermission. She finished 6-for-8 from the floor and was perfect on four 3-point attempts. "I know everyone is confident in me, so that gives me confidence," she said. "I definitely have a scorer's mentality." Actually, Morgan has a shooter's mentality, as she never hesitates. The left-handed Miller, who repeatedly was able to drive left and finish in traffic, has a scorer's mentality. She was 6-for-15 from the field and 10-for-11 at the line as Highland went 14-for-16 at the stripe. "There's not many left-handed guards," Miller said. "People are more used to playing right-handed guards. They're used to defending the right side, so I'm able to drive." Often scoring off their defense — Aurora finished with 23 turnovers — the Hornets also got 10 points and five assists from steady freshman point guard Grace Madison, eight points and six rebounds from center Alayna Tessena and four points, six boards and four assists from small forward Delaney Lawson. Point guard Samantha Stask led Aurora with 19 poins and five rebounds, while center Ava Ryncarz had 14 points on 4-for-16 shooting, seven boards and four assists. "Every game we get better as a team," Miller said. "Every game we learn to work together a little better." Morgan concurred, but she's not looking ahead to what would be the program's first league title in 42 years. "We're taking it one game at a time," she said, duplicating a statement also made by Miller. "We want to make sure we don't have any slip-ups or letdowns." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Highland 75, Aurora 46 HIGHLAND 20 19 22 14 —75 AURORA 7 17 8 14 — 46 Aurora —Grace Barbour 3-1-7, Hannah Rogge 1-0-2, Ava Ryncarz 4-5-14, Camryn Cohn 0-0-0, Samantha Stask 8-2-19, Cailyn Ries 0-2-2, Julia Miller 0-0-0, Kailey Feckner 0-2-2, Anna Blum 0-0-0, Bailey Hemming 0-0-0, Emily Feckner 0-0-0, Kalley Samodell 0-0-0, Makenzie Mims 0-0-0, Charlotte Hart 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-12-46. Highland — Delaney Lawson 2-0-4, Aleena VanKirk 2-0-4, Alayna Tessena 4-0-8, Maddie Miller 6-10-22, Grace Madison 3-2-10, Kennedy Morgan 6-2-18, Jillian Miller 0-0-0, Emily Miller 1-0-2, Bianca Pallante 1-0-2, Wren Marquis 1-0-2, Grace Weber 1-0-3, Delaney Miller 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27-14-75. 3-point goals — Stask, Ryncarz, Morgan 4, Madison 2, Weber. Rebounds — Aurora 30 (Ryncarz 7), Highland 36 (M. Miller, Morgan 7). Assists — Aurora 6 (Ryncarz 4), Highland 17 (Madison 5). Records — Aurora (5-5, 5-3), Highland (14-0, 8-0). Junior varsity — Highland 32, Aurora 14.