Highland drubs Greyhound women

HIGHLAND -- Anna Deegan and India Johnson scored 19 points each here Saturday as No. 11-ranked Highland drubbed Fort Scott Community College's women, 82-44, in Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division play.

That loss -- Fort Scott's sixth straight -- capped a gambit of three consecutive games versus nationally-ranked teams, which began at No. 5 Kansas City last weekend and continued with No. 6 Johnson County Wednesday. The Greyhounds are currently in the bottom position for post-season seeding but have a chance to move up if they can win at least two of their last three games.

Highland (6-4 East, 7-3 region, 22-4 overall) led 35-19 at the half and shot 52 percent from the field in the game, making 30 of 58 field-goal attempts. Deegan went 7 of 10, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range, while Johnson connected on 7 of 12 shots.

Fort Scott (2-10, 0-9, 11-16) made just 28 percent of its shots from the field on 13 of 46 and missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts. The Greyhounds, ranked 21st among all Region VI teams, regardless of division, in 3-point shooting at 24.6 percent, have made just 6 of 53 attempts from behind the arc in their last 4 outings. Five of the makes came in the same game.

Post Jessica McAdams scored 12 points for Fort Scott but the rest of the starting lineup added just 6 points. Backup center Carlie Wilhelmi added 14 points off the bench.

The Greyhounds are two games behind Brown Mackie and Highland, who are tied for the No. 5 position in Region VI-Division II post-season tournament seeding. They will face those two schools in their final games of the regular season --vs. Brown Mackie at home Saturday and at Hesston on February 27.

First, the 'Hounds will take on Labette (4-6 region) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Arnold Arena, looking to salvage a season split with the Cardinals. Labette won the January 31 meeting at Parsons, 96-86, in overtime.

FORT SCOTT: White 0-1 0-0 0, McAdams 3-9 6-6 12, Luptak 1-5 2-2 4, Shoulders 1-9 0-0 2, Valadez 0-5 0-0 0, McGuire 3-6 0-0 6, Haggard 0-1 2-2 2, Thorp 2-3 0-0 4, Wilhelmi 3-7 8-9 14. TOTALS: 13-46 18-19 44.

HIGHLAND: Deegan 7-10 1-3 19, Daniel 1-7 3-4 5, Johnson 7-12 5-6 19, Dillard 2-6 2-2 8, Rolen 5-6 2-2 12, Jones 2-4 0-0 5, Smith 2-5 0-0 4, Bello 1-1 0-0 2, Harper 2-3 0-0 4, Blair 0-1 0-0 0, Salas 1-3 2-4 4. TOTALS: 30-58 15-21 82.

Halftime: Highland, 35-19.

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 0-10 (Valadez 0-1, McGuire 0-1, Haggard 0-1, Luptak 0-3, Shoulders 0-4), Highland 7-20 (Deegan 4-4, Dillard 2-5, Jones 1-2, Harper 0-1, Blair 0-1, Smith 0-3, Daniel 0-4).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 22, Highland 20. Fouled out: Shoulders.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 26 (White 5, Luptak 5, Wilhelmi 5), Highland 26 (Deegan 9). Assists: Fort Scott 10 (Shoulders 6), Highland 7 (3 with 2 each). Turnovers: Fort Scott 26, Highland 16. Steals: Fort Scott 5 (5 with 1 each), Highland 13 (Dillard 4, Rolen 4). Blocked shots: Fort Scott none, Highland 1 (Jones).