Greyhound women fall to 0-4 in division

A furious second-half rally fell short for Fort Scott Community College's women at Arnold Arena Wednesday night as eighth-ranked Highland held on for a 63-59 win in Jayhawk Conferece-Division II play.

The Greyhounds shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half and trailed by as many as 19 points in the third before they began to rally.

Mariane Carvalho, a forward from Brazil, hit a 3-point shot for Highland to make it 41-22 with 4:38 left in the third. But that turned out to be the Scotties' last basket in the period.

Tabor Spruling got things going by sticking back her own missed shot moments later. Yazmin Batch's 3-pointer with 12 seconds left closed the deficit to 46-33.

Batch also scored the first field goal of the fourth as part of a 14-6 run. Highland's scores in the run were 3-pointers that came almost three minutes apart.

Rachel Newquist scored a layup from a Carly Bohannon pass at the end of the run to bring Fort Scott within 52-48. Highland managed a few free throws in the next couple of minutes but the Greyhound defense was limiting the number of field goals they could even attempt, much less make.

Szonja Vukov drove in for a Highland score with 2:07 left to put Highland up 57-54. Shanessia Walters tied it moments later with a 3-pointer from the left wing and Bohannon scored with exactly a minute left to give Fort Scott its first lead since early in the opening quarter.

But Blaize Burgess beat the defense back to the other end and scored an open layup to tie the score 59-59 with 45 seconds left. The 'Hounds never scored again and Highland made 4 of 6 in the final 20 seconds.

Walters led the Greyhounds with 14 points followed by Batch with 13. Carvalho and Jameka Dowell scored 18 points each for Highland.

The Greyhounds shot 61 percent from the field in the second half, making 17 of 28 attempts but that wasn't enough to overcome a dismal 5-of-20 performance during the first half. Fort Scott led 5-3 early on before missing 13 straight shots over the rest of the first period and the first 4:15 of the second. During that time, Highland scored 18 consecutive points to go up 21-5 with 6:06 left in the second.

Fort Scott was just 10 of 22 at the free-throw line while Highland was 17 of 23.

Highland outrebounded Fort Scott, 44-31. The Scotties grabbed 20 offensive rebounds to the Greyhounds' 7.

The Greyhounds remain in last place in the conference at 0-4 and are tied for the No. 5 seed in post-season seeding with Brown Mackie at 1-4. Overall, they're 13-5 following an 11-0 start.

Highland improved to 2-1 in the conference, tied for second with Johnson County behind Labette, 4-1 in Region VI and 20-2 overall.

Fort Scott continues in Region VI play Saturday when the travel to Salina to take on independent Brown Mackie, which is in its last season before the school closes down in May.

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HIGHLAND: Vukov 2-8 2-2 6, Carvalho 5-22 5-6 18, Dowell 5-14 7-11 18, Romalho 1-3 2-2 5, Burgess 3-8 0-0 7, Simmons 2-5 1-2 7, Cook 0-1 0-0 0, Blackburn 1-2 0-0 2, Claiborne 0-1 0-0 0, McDonald 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-64 17-23 63.

FORT SCOTT: Ready 2-6 2-3 6, Newquist 3-3 1-1 7, Batch 4-6 2-4 13, Walters 6-13 0-4 14, Kelley 1-4 2-2 4, Holtgrave 0-1 0-0 0, Danzer 0-5 0-0 0, Spurling 3-5 2-4 8, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Bohannon 3-4 1-4 7, Moore 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-48 10-22 59.

Highland 11 19 16 17 -- 63

Fort Scott.. 5 9 19 26 -- 59

Three-point field goals: Highland 8-28 (Carvalho 3-9, Simmons 2-2, Ramalho 1-2, Dowell 1-6, Burgess 1-6, Claiborne 0-1, Vuzkov 0-2), Fort Scott 5-14 (Batch 3-4, Walters 2-5, Kelley 0-1, Holtgrave 0-1, Danzer 0-3).

Total fouls: Highland 22, Fort Scott 22. Fouled out: Carvalho, Bohannon.

Rebounds: Highland 44 (Vuzkov 12), Fort Scott 31 (Batch 5, Spurling 5). Assists: Highland 12 (Blackburn 3), Fort Scott 9 (Ready 4). Turnovers: Highland 24, Fort Scott 26. Steals: Highland 12 (Dowell 3), Fort Scott 9 (Ready 4). Blocked shots: Highland 3 (Carvalho 2), Fort Scott 1 (Newquist).