By Gord Cochrane

On Jan. 7 the Haliburton Highlands Secondary School senior basketball team remained undefeated in conference play by defeating Brock High School at Brock 37-24.  That win extended the team’s winning streak to eight games.  The Red Hawks continue to be in first place in the Kawartha West basketball league with a record of 6-0.

The Red Hawks started out with its trapping three quarter court defence against Brock which allowed them to jump out to an 8-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.  They extended the lead to 18-9 at halftime and continued to lead 27-13 at the end of three quarters.

Head Coach David Waito commented on the high basketball IQ of his players saying they have a great understanding of the game. Waito also specifically cited McKay Coneybeare and Caleb Schmidt for their play in this game Coneybeare for his leadership and scoring and Schmidt for his excellent defense and aggressiveness. Coneybeare who had three assists scored nine points in the second half of the game against Brock including two three-point shots.  Schmidt led the team in steals with seven five of which came in the crucial first half.  He also scored nine points.
Hunter Smith led the Hawks with 11 points and added five rebounds and five steals. The leading rebounder was Nick Thompson with nine.

On Monday the Hawks played the Wildcats of I.E. Weldon Secondary School in Lindsay. As of press time the result was unknown. The Wildcats suffered its lone loss to the Hawks earlier in the season when Haliburton survived a triple overtime. A Hawks’ win will clinch at least a tie for first in the conference.

Their last game is also away at Fenelon Falls on Monday Jan. 18. The Falcons of Fenelon Falls will also be trying to avenge a deflating loss to the Red Hawks earlier in the season. This was a game when the Falcons squandered a 13 point lead with only six minutes to go in the game. The Hawks stormed back and won that game on a last second shot by Schmidt 40-38.