The Higbee girls will play for the championship at the Keytesville Tournament on Saturday after easily handing Southwest-Livingston, 54-20, in the semi-finals on Thursday. Higbee will now face Brunswick for the crown on Saturday.

The Lady Tigers jumped in front with a seven-point run to start the game and led 9-6 after eight minutes with three players in the scoring column. Intense full-court pressure held Southwest to just five second-quarter points. Offensively, Higbee dominated the second period with eight of its 18 points coming off of transition layups.

“We started the game slow similar to the first time we played them, but we hit some shots in the second quarter to gain separation and our defense turned into more offense in the third,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton.

Leading 27-11 after the break, Higbee would allow al only nine points in the second half en route to a lopsided 34-point victory. Sophomore Alie Mitchell scored 11 of her 13 total points in the third quarter with three 3-pointers and layup that put Higbee in front 41-13 midway through the period.

Mitchell’s game-high 13 points came on five-of-eight shooting from the floor. She made three of five 3-point attempts. “Alie Mitchell had her best offensive outing of the year shooting with some swagger,” Burton said. 

Freshman Ronnie Welch leads the team in scoring with 18.1 points per game this season. She finished just shy of a double-double on Thursday with 12 points and nine steals. She also made five assists and blocked one shot. “I felt like she was out there flowing and was really efficient for us,” said Burton.

Freshman Marilynn Ritter finished the night with nine points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

Saturday’s championship game will pit the first-seeded Lady Tigers against conference rival Brunswick. The Lady Wildcats, seeded second, defeated Keytesville and Wellsville to make the championship game. Tipoff is at 1:30 p.m.

“The effort was solid, we will look to clean up the unforced turnovers to give our best effort in the championship game,” Burson said.

Brunswick won both matchups against Higbee a year ago. Both teams will square off again in CLAA action on Tuesday in Higbee. “Both games hold differing implications for conference finish, tournament finish, and conference tournament seeding,” said Burton of the back-to-back matchups.