The Highland girls' basketball team put an exclamation point on its perfect regular season by soundly defeating a clearly overmatched Pocatello squad 34-16 on Thursday at Highland High.

Rams post Emma Filiaga said the regular season was a memorable way to cap off her high school career, but she's already looking forward.

"Going 20-0 as a senior was a really good feeling," Filiaga said. "But now we have to start again. Everyone is at zeros now."

Highland's perfect 8-0 record in 5A District 4, 5, 6 play means it will hold home-court advantage throughout the district tournament. The Rams first host Twin Falls on Tuesday.

Highland coach Scott Hansen said a perfect season was never his team's goal.

"But as the season progressed, I think the girls saw the opportunity (to go 20-0)," Hansen said. "But 20-0 doesn't do you any good if you don't play well in the tournament. Our goal all season was to win the district."

Neither team was particularly hot in the opening minutes of Thursday's game. With 2:43 left in the first quarter, Highland led 4-3 when the team pulled away by finishing the quarter on a 5-0 run.

By halftime, Highland led 17-8, and its most dominant quarter was yet to come. The Rams scored eight points in the third quarter while allowing Pocatello only two points, both from the foul line.

Pocatello was down 25-10 to start the fourth quarter, during which the Rams continued to extend their lead. With 2:48 left in the game, Highland had its biggest lead, 34-13, when Pocatello finished the game on a 3-0 run.

Highland's pressing defense caused the Indians to commit 22 turnovers and allowed a shooting percentage from the field of just 11 percent. Pocatello sank just three baskets the entire game, earning most of its points at the foul line.

"They're good. Their defense is pretty intense," said Pocatello guard Kelsey Parker. "They play like they are No. 1."

Parker scored the bulk of Poky's points, going 7-for-10 from the free-throw line and hitting a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter. Although the disparity between the two teams is clear, Pocatello did hold its own in some areas.

The significantly undersized Indians had 26 total rebounds compared with Highland's 29. Pocatello also shot 67 percent from the foul line while the Rams hit just 35 percent.

Many of Highland's missed shots at the stripe came from Filiaga who had 13 points on the night but hit just 3-of-10 from the line.

She said Pocatello also kept her off balance on defense.

"They gave us a lot of different looks on offense," Filiaga said. "Their offense was hard to adjust to as a post."

Parker also believed her team did some things right.

"We didn't make it easy for them. We switched up our defense and tried to keep them off balance," she said.

The final regular season game for the Highland girls' basketball team also meant saying goodbye to some seniors. During the team's annual Senior Night celebration, Breanne Van Every, Taryn Harding, Kylie Hardison, Kristina Hoffman and Filiaga were all acknowledged.