HIGHLANDS RANCH — Every now and then, a reserve player returns the following season and beckons a double take with new star status.
Highlands Ranch’s Michaela Neuhaus is doing just that.
The former role player is becoming one of the state’s top perimeter scoring threats, and she was at it again Tuesday night in the top-ranked Falcons’ 57-46 home win against No. 9 Legacy.
Good thing for the Falcons, because they might have lost to the Lightning without Neuhaus’ 19 points.
“They were doing the things we do for a while,” said the 5-foot-7 junior guard, who made three 3-pointers. “We were getting pushed around a bit, but we hung in there. We eventually settled down.”
Legacy (5-1) seemingly hadn’t skipped a beat despite graduating its top two players, and the Lightning was within six points in the final minutes before Highlands Ranch (6-1) clinched its win at the free-throw line.
The Lightning remained close with impressive help from center Sade Akindele, who scored 18 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked four shots.
“The key was take away their transition offense, and I think we did a pretty good job of that,” Legacy coach Craig Van Patten said. “Unfortunately, we got into some foul trouble and some of our key players were off the court at key times.”
One of those was leading scorer Kailey Edwards, who picked up her fourth foul early in the second half and, with spotty minutes, managed only nine points.
Highlands Ranch converted 20-of-24 foul shots, which made a distinct difference in a tight game. Included was an 8-for-8 performance by Katelyn McDaniel, who finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Neuhaus went 8-for-10 at the line in continuing her metamorphosis into a key scoring threat.
“I’ve been working hard, trying to bring some energy and help the team in a bunch of different ways,” Neuhaus said.
Legacy held a one-point advantage late in the second quarter, but the Falcons put together a nice run before halftime that culminated with Bree Baker’s banked-in 3 at the buzzer. That put the Falcons up 31-24 and somewhat deflated the aura of a tight game.
“We also felt like we could hang with them, so this was good to see,” Van Patten said. “We had opportunities. We missed a lot of easy baskets down low.”
Legacy 8 16 13 9 — 46
Highlands Ranch 15 16 15 11 — 57
Legacy — Glen 3 4-4 10, Archuleta 2 0-0 5, Edwards 3 3-5 9, Akindele 6 6-8 18, Dunahay 0 1-2 1, Eisler 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 1-3 3, Torrez 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 15-22 46.
Highlands Ranch — Heap 3 0-0 7, Mallon 3 2-2 8, McDaniel 2 8-8 12, Baker 2 2-4 7, Neuhaus 4 8-10 19, Burns 1 0-0 2, Morgan 1 0-0 2, Yates 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 20-24 57.
3-point goals — Archuleta; Neuhaus 3, Baker, Heap. Total fouls — Legacy 23, Highlands Ranch 21. Fouled out — Glen, Heap. Technical fouls — None.
