LA HABRA— The Sunny Hills Lady Lancers fell back under even in Freeway League play after losing 52-36 to the La Habra Highlanders last night.

The Lady Lancers found themselves down by 7-2 early in the game, but five straight points by guard Jessica Barrow tied up the game.

Behind a big first quarter by Barrow,who had 9 in the quarter, the Lady Lancers overcame their slow start to take a 12-8 lead.

Other than a basket by La Habra center Hannah Mcarthur to cut the Lady Lancers lead to two, both teams went cold from the field in the closing minutes of the quarter.

The Lancers (13-8, 2-3)  and Highlanders (14-6, 3-2) both went scoreless in the final two and a half minutes of the first quarter.

La Habra Seniors Mcarthur and Emma Zener stepped up in the second quarter to help the Highlanders retake the lead.

Mcarthur made her presence felt on both sides of the ball.

The center, who led the team with 10 points in the quarter and a total of 16 in the game, converted several shots from inside the paint and forced Lancer turnovers that often culminated in points for the Highlanders.

Zener contributed 7 points of her own in the quarter including a 3-pointer that not only extended her team’s lead, but also put her over one thousand career points.

The Lady Lancers struggled to respond to a 10-0 run by the Highlanders to open the quarter, and like in the final minutes of the first quarter experienced poor shooting form.

Sunny Hills only managed to score five points in the second quarter, and gave the ball away on many occasions.

Back to back 3-pointers by La Habra in the opening minutes of the second half set up another quarter of strong offensive play by the Highlanders.

Mcarthur picked up right where she left off and scored four points from the field in the third.

After eight straight unanswered points by the Highlanders to go up 35-17, The Lady Lancers regained their scoring touch.

Guard Molly Grumbo scored two three pointers for the Lady Lancers in the quarter while Barrow made one of her own to help cut the Highlanders lead to 14 going into the final quarter.

As the fourth quarter began the Highlanders quickly quashed any possibility of their lead falling to single digits.

A 7-1 run by La Habra to start the fourth put them in good position to comfortably close out the game.

After their quarter opening run La Habra only scored two points in the remainder of the game, but Sunny Hills inability to consistently convert from the field kept the game out of reach for the Lancers.

La Habra will next see the court on Friday when they visit Troy High School to face the Warriors. Sunny Hills will seek to even up their league record on Friday when they travel to Fullerton High School to take on the Indians.