Eureka Springs coach Brian Rambo knew going into this season that there would likely be peaks and valleys for a young Highlanders team.

As it turned out, sometimes those peaks and valleys happen in the same game.

The Highlanders opened their 2023-24 season Tuesday, Oct. 17, with a 72-38 loss at Jasper.

The lopsided final score doesn’t reflect how competitive the game was for the first half, which ended with the two teams tied.

Jasper pulled away from the Highlanders in the second half after Eureka Springs senior Michael Lester, the Highlanders’ go-to scoring threat, was whistled for his fifth foul.

“We knew what was going to happen in terms of having to play through some adversity, some growing pains,” Rambo said Wednesday, Oct. 18. “We saw it all last night in the first game. I thought we played really well in the first quarter Lester finished with a team-high 18 points in 18 minutes. He also tied sophomore Adam Hall for the team high in rebounds with five.

“When he went out, the tide shifted, obviously,” Rambo said. “I think we scored a grand total of eight points with him out and we couldn’t get stops. It just snowballed. You know how young teams are. You make a mistake and then you make another mistake, and you’re on the road. They had a big, loud crowd, a great student section. We made some mistakes and it got away from us.”

Still, the Highlanders showed promise early.

“The first half, I thought we played well,” Rambo said. “So you could kind of see where we could be. We played a really good basketball team on the road, had a tie at the half, and so you could see where we’re at. But you could also see, when things don’t go well what it could be, too.”

Sophomore Kenner Leavell scored nine points for Eureka Springs, which will play at St. Paul on Thursday, Oct. 19, before hosting Omaha on Friday, Oct. 20.