Nearly 30 minutes after the final buzzer sounded, friends and family members who came out to cheer the Highland girls' basketball team as they played for the 5A, District 4, 5, 6 championship Thursday were still milling around the school's gymnasium.

The quiet conversations carried on while they waited were intermittently interrupted by screams and cheers that could be heard coming from the Rams' locker room as the girls continued to celebrate their 57-28 stomping of Madison.

Highland coach Scott Hansen had praise for the way his team dominated Madison

"We played really well as a team defensively," he said. "We've had a great season."

The Rams continued a perfect 23-0 season with Thursday's victory and will head into state as the No. 1 seed from their district. Hansen said he is impressed with the way his team responded throughout the season.

"There is a lot of pressure that goes with not losing," he said. "I think they handled it well."

Not only did they handle it on Thursday, but the Rams played a full 32 minutes of intense, focus basketball. Highland was consistently in the Bobcats' passing lanes, allowed few open looks at the basket and generally wreaked havoc on Madison's offense.

Highland senior guard Kylie Hardison said that was all part of the game plan.

"We had to come out and play 'D,'" she said. "We knew we had to be strong and not take them for granted. That all starts on defense."

Senior guard Taryn Harding agrees.

"Our strength is our defense," she said. "That's what sets up our offense."

Highland so fully dominated Madison that the league's 30-point mercy rule would likely have been enacted with about 40 seconds left to play had it been a regular-season game.

In fact, the game's scorekeeper did let the clock continue running when Highland committed a foul with about 26 seconds left in the game. As Madison looked to inbound the ball, the referee blew his whistle to stop the game and headed straight for the scorekeeper as seconds continued ticking off the clock.

When the scorekeeper mentioned the mercy rule, the referee said, "The clock stops in this game."

The Rams started their domination of Madison with the first quarter, taking a 10-4 lead into the second. From there the lead continued to balloon, reaching 13 points at the half, 20 points after three quarters and topping out at 31 points with 41 seconds left in the game.

Madison had its best scoring quarter in the fourth when it put up 12 points. Half of that came, however, after the starters were pulled with about four minutes left.

Highland's bench players took over where the starters left off, putting up 12 points of their own during the last four minutes of the game, including six points each from junior post Taylor Wilkinson and sophomore guard Kelsey Belnap. The Rams scored 21 points during the fourth quarter.

Although they lost the game, the Bobcats' future was never in doubt. The top two seeds from the district are headed to state, and all that remained to be determined was which seed each team went as.

Madison will head out to Boise next week as the No. 2 seed.

Now that Highland has remained perfect throughout the regular season and the district tournament, Hardison said it's time to show what the Rams have on the big stage. She believes they are ready.

"I have never been so confident with this team," Harding said. "I know we can do it and now it's time to prove it."