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When the Highland girls basketball team found out they would be without sophomore inside player Myah Hennessey the rest of the season with an ACL injury they were hoping someone would step up.
They got that someone in freshman Katelyn Esser who gave the Cardinals a jump start Monday and sent them to a 73-34 win over Juda in a non-conference match-up between two teams in the split Six Rivers conference. Esser netted 18 of her 24 points in the first half and sent the Cardinals to a 36-16 commanding lead at halftime. She also was accurate from the free throw line where she made all six of her tosses.
Esser was not alone in turning in a strong performance. Her classmate, Meg Tarrell, came off the bench to drain a pair of three pointers and finish with 14 points.
Then there was senior Maddie Drury who keyed the defense with several steals and turned them into 12 points, eight in the second half.
"We needed an inside player to step up and Katelyn did a good job of that," said coach Josh Tarrell. "Meg had been in a scoring slump but she came off the bench to play a solid game."
Tarrell said Drury had some very good steals to lead the defense.
"We needed a win," Tarrell said. "The girls picked it up when we needed them to tonight."
Montana Steinmann led the Panthers with 19 points.
In discussing Hennessey's injury Tarrell said she was after a loose ball and her knee just buckled.
"There was no contact," he said.
The girls travel to Belmont tonight.
SCORE BY HALVES
Juda 16 18 34
Highland 36 37 73
BOX SCORE
JUDA 34: (fg-ft-tp) Skoumel 0-0-0. Smith 0-1-1, Powers 1-4-6, Steinmann 4-8-19, Price 0-0-0. Elmer 1-0-2, Rufer 0-0-0 Totals 9-13/28-34. Fouls-14
HIGHLAND 73: M. Mueller 2-2-6, M. Kosharek 2-0-4, Esser 9-6-24, C. Kosharek 4-1-9, K Mueller 2-0-4, Drury 5-2-12, Welsh 0-0-0 Totals 30-11/16-73. Fouls-20 Fouled out-K. Mueller
3 point goals:
Juda-Steinmann 3
Highland-Tarrell 2