For the first time in almost a decade. Highland Park is in the third round of the girls basketball playoffs.
Despite more than a week between games, the Lady Scots showed no signs of rust, cruising to a 51-29 area-round victory over Lufkin on Monday in Athens for their 12th consecutive win overall.
HP (22-6) advances to the Class 5A Region II quarterfinals to meet Red Oak (22-5) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at South Oak Cliff High School.
The upcoming matchup against the Lady Hawks — who defeated Mount Pleasant 87-49 on Monday — is a clash of district champions. Red Oak, which is averaging almost 60 points per contest, will meet an HP defense that hasn’t allowed more than 40 points in a game in almost two months.
In each of the past two seasons, the Lady Scots also went unbeaten in district play and earned a bi-district victory, only to fall in the second round. This time, however, they moved past the area round for the first time since 2012.
