Boys

Higbee-78

Braymer-37

The Higbee boys took to the court Friday night to go against the Braymer Bobcats in Higbee. In what seems to be becoming routine, the Tigers soundly defeated the Bobcats 78-37, more than doubling the score of their opponent. Sophomore Jordan Fuemmeler singlehandedly outscored the Bobcats 38-37.

“Jordan has been feeling it recently and this time of year is a good time for that to be happening,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton.

Higbee took an early lead at the end of the first quarter, outscoring Braymer 19-7. The second quarter was more of the same with Higbee putting in 24 to Braymer’s nine, making the score 43-16, much to the delight of the Higbee Courtwarming and senior night crowd.

With a 27-point lead coming out of the locker room, the Tigers put up 16 more in the third and 19 in the fourth to seal the win at 78-37. Higbee missed hitting its season average by 0.6 points.

Three Tigers reached double figures Friday night, Fuemmeler, sophomore Derek Rockett, and senior Malaki Squires. In addition to scoring 38 points, Fuemmeler narrowly missed a double-double by pulling down nine rebounds. Rockett did get the double-double by hitting for 23 points and 14 rebounds. “Derek was playing through an injury and played well.” said Burton. “I thought he really adapted and played in stride to do what the team needed him to do to stay on course.”

Squires added 13 points and dished out three assists with four steals. Senior Luke Ritter added two points. He also had four assists and three steals. Sophomore Jaxon Hudson also contributed two points.

“All in all, we did a nice job locking up a conference win,” said Burton. “We have some tings to tighten up. I believe we will buckle down and take care of that stuff with big games approaching.”

Higbee faced Madison in the first round of the Keytesville tournament on Monday. 

Girls

Braymer-47

Higbee-26

When one player is responsible for almost a third of your team scoring, that player suffering an injury can be problematic. That seemed to be the issue Friday night as the Higbee Lady Tigers lost for only the third time this season to Braymer, 47-26. 

With freshman Ronnie Welch nursing an injured hand, Higbee was without her 18.5 points per game. While that total, in itself, would not have overtaken the Bobcat score, it certainly would have tightened the game significantly.

Braymer opened the game in the first quarter by taking an 11-4 lead over the Lady Tigers and continued that trend in the second quarter, outscoring Higbee 10-7 to take a 21-11 lead into intermission.

“Defensively, our effort was there,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “Our girls were diving for loose balls more than I have ever seen, and we took charges.”

The third quarter proved that effort as Brayer was held to only nine points. “We just couldn’t score in an ocean last night,”said Burton. The fourth quarter showed Braymer adding 17 points to make the final score 47-26.

“When you have a girl like Ronnie putting up nearly a triple-double every night and she’s adapting to being a little more cautious it’s going to take a few games for teammates to adapt to new roles and expectations,” Burton said. “This process will only make us better in the weeks ahead.”

Junior Madison Ferguson led the Lady Tigers with eight points on the night. “I was proud of Madison, she came off the bench to hit some big shots and was our leading scorer for the second game in a row,” Burton said. “It’s nice to see a kid battle some adversity and just keep battling. When the world makes it so acceptable to make excuses and give up, it’s impressive to see a kid ask for help and work hard to get what they want.”

Sophomore Alie Mitchell along with Ronnie Welch each contributed four points while junior Emma Johnson and sophomore Isabelle Welch posted three apiece. Freshman Marilynn Ritter added two. Senior Macey Whisenand and sophomore Kylleen Gibson contributed one apiece.

Higbee will be the No. 1 seed at the Keytesville tournament this week and received a first-round bye. The bye gives them a break until Thursday night when the will play the winner of the game between Madison and Southwest.