Mesa Dobson girls basketball coach Tyler Dumas decided after watching Gilbert Highland play a few times this season, most recently in Las Vegas when both schools participated in a holiday tournament there, that giving up perimeter shooting would be the his team's best option against the Hawks.

"I hadn't seen them shoot real well overall from outside," Dumas said.

Dumas did, however, on Tuesday night as the regular season resumed for hoop teams around the state.

Top-ranked Highland shot 53 percent from the field in the first period to build a 22-8 lead and went on to defeat the visiting Mustangs, 62-45, in a 5A Division I nonregion game at Highland.

Gilbert guard Morgan Wohltman poured in 22 points, including 5 of 8 3-pointers the Hawks connected on during the game. Point guard Jenay Locke scored 12 points and forward Chanel Thorley added 10 points and 16 rebounds. Sophomore guard Alyssa Heeman hoisted up four shots from 3-point range in the first half and made the first three. She finished with those nine points off the bench.

"We had a great first quarter and great third quarter," Highland coach Miner Webster said. "During the other times we had some lapses. Dobson did a nice job coming back in the second quarter. Fortunately in the third quarter we reestablished ourselves."

Along with some solid early long-range shooting, Highland benefitted most of the night from the defense of senior center Malia Magazzeni. Magazzeni had the assignment of guarding Dobson's 6-foot-4 junior center Kameron Knutson, who entered the game averaging 14.6 points a game.

Knutson finished with 13, but only two late field goals after Magazzeni fouled out put her in double figures.

"Malia has done such a good job defensively on other teams' big players," Webster said. "She's really tough in there. She does her job every time out."

Despite miscalculating Highland's perimeter prowess, Dumas was satisfied the way his team battled back after the slow start. Dobson cut a 15-point Highland lead in the first period to 32-26 with just a few seconds left in the first half.

"We got back into it and got it close at halftime," Dumas said. "We're just a couple of steps from figuring it out. We have a young team. We're doing some good things."