The women’s basketball team wins a close one against Pierce, 36-33, but a monstrous Gator performance keeps their postseason chances up in the air.

Last Wednesday, No. 5 Highline traveled to No. 4 Pierce in an NWAC West showdown. The win would increase the team’s chances of clinching the fourth postseason spot.

Despite an off night for both teams, Highline made amends with their offensive and defensive troubles to top the Raiders, 36-33.

It was a cold start in Lakewood, WA, as the Raiders missed two shots before sinking their first bucket with 8:27 left and the Lady T-Birds suffered a string of 11 missed shots. Hi’ilani Arai started the scoring for Highline with two free throws at 2:39.

Throughout the quarter, Pierce crashed the boards with an 18-7 rebounding advantage over Highline and 3-14 from the field compared to the Lady T-Bird’s 0-14. Pierce led 7-2 at the end of the first.

In the second quarter, Highline gained momentum, converting Pierce ball handling errors and loose defense into wide open buckets. A steal and fastbreak layup from Ella Christian leveled the game 11-11 with 1:56 left. Shortly after, Highline took the lead with another fast break layup initiated by a hail mary-like throw from Aulani Benitez to Sarah Gutlak for two more down the stretch, putting Highline ahead, 13-11. Pierce got in a buzzer beater layup as Highline headed into the halftime break with a 15-13 lead.

In the third, Highline went on a 9-3 run from Pierce turnovers, capped off by a steal and subsequent layup from Aulani Benitez. At 6:39 left, Highline led by eight points, their largest lead of the game. Both Pierce and Highline continued to shoot below average with less than 30 percent from the field for both teams.

Highline kept pushing ahead in the fourth quarter until the end game buzzer marked their third conference win, 36-33.

Freshman Aulani Benitez led all scorers with 14 points on 5-7 field goal shooting. Sophomore Savannah Arneach chipped in nine points inside and snagged 14 rebounds.

“When we went into play against Pierce, we knew it wasn’t gonna be an easy win. It was not one of our high scoring games so we had to pick it up on the defensive end which we did. Not only that but the refs were also not in our favor,” said Sophomore Savannah Arneach.

Last Saturday, Highline returned to their home court to face No. 1 Green River. This time it was without their top scorer, Savannah Arneach who suffered an injury between games. Arneach averages 11.2 points per game thus far in the season, the biggest contributor for Highline.

The Lady Gators were 7-1 leading up to tip off and were on a high of seven-straight conference wins.

Despite Highline outdoing the Gators in the first half shooting percentages, a downturn in the second ended in a T-Bird loss, 70-48.

The match started off heated with a level score of 14-14 and double digit rebounds from both teams by the end of the first. Aulani Bentiez led Highline with seven points on 3-4 shooting for the quarter.

Within the first two minutes of the second quarter, Green River’s Bayleigh Harder caught fire by hitting three consecutive three-pointers. Harder built a 9-2 run and a 23-16 Gator lead with 8:58 left. Highline made their way back in and an equalizer shot beyond the arc from Aleix Willis tied the game, 27-27. Willis fired another try, giving Highline their only lead of the match, 30-27. But the Gators kept sinking their shots long and defending big with a 26-19 scoring advantage and 12 rebounds for the quarter.

The Gators led 40-33 at the halftime break.

In the third and fourth, Highline lost their competitive edge as they shot just 27.1 percent compared to 53.9 percent from Green River for the half.

The Gators closed out the game with a 22 point divide, 70-48, fueled by a 24-point performance from standout freshman Baleigh Harder. 

Highline freshman Aulani Benitez recorded a new career high of 17 points on 7-17 shooting, also tallying seven rebounds.

“As one of the team captains, my team stepped it up and played really well. Even though I was out due to my injury they kept their heads. I knew quite a bit of them were very nervous but they showed up and showed out against the No. 1 team in our region and that’s all you could ask. We didn’t get the ‘W’ but they showed what they could do,” said Arneach.

The No. 5 Lady T-Birds have an uphill battle ahead as they will need to win three out of their last four games to secure a postseason spot.

This Saturday, Highline will face off against No. 3 South Puget Sound (5-2 in the West). The game will begin at 12 p.m.