Hillsboro teams advance to Trojan Classic title games

Written by Don Ratzlaff Friday, 20 January 2012 22:41

Hillsboro's Tena Loewen hits a road block near the basket in the form of Wamego's 6-foot-1 Kaylee Page. Loewen scored four points in the game while Page took game honors with 26.   Hillsboro's Maci Schlehuber makes the interior pass during the first half. Moments later, she got the return pass and scored.   Two gritty performances against two good semifinal opponents Friday night enabled Hillsboro to reserve a place in both Trojan Classic championship games on Saturday.

Callie Serene stepped up big time with 24 points as the undefeated Trojan girls overcame a 26-point performance by Kaylee Page to defeat Wamego 57-46. The Trojan boys, meanwhile, got 13 points off the bench from Shaq Thiessen to move from a 19-19 tie at halftime to a 51-36 victory over Thomas More Prep.

GIRLS -- Hillsboro used a diversified attack to overcome Wamego’s two big guns, 6-foot-1 Kaylee Page and 6-0 Lanie Page in their semifinals showdown.

The two girls accounted for 38 of Wamego’s 46 points. The less obvious statistic, though is, that Kaylee Page made only 8 of 30 shots from the field and while Lanie was 6-for 13. Only one other player scored for Wamego.

Meanwhile, Callie Serene had a career-high 24 points, scoring behind the arc but also on drives into the lane. Addie Lackey added 13 as six players scored for HHS.

Four points off the bench by Courtney Weber in the final 1:32 of the opening quarter helped Hillsboro to a 14-9 lead at the break. Wamego narrowed the gap to 27-25 by halftime, with Kaylee Page scoring 17 by intermission.

Hillsboro took control of the game in the third quarter with an 18-4 surge over the first 6:43 for a 45-29 bulge. But the Red Raiders ended the quarter with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 45-35 by the end of the period.

Kaylee Page started the final quarter with a three, but Serene countered with one at the 4:42 mark, then hit another one with 2:41 left. At that point HHS was comfortably ahead at 51-32.

For the game, Serene was 8-for-12 from the field, including 5-for-8 from behind the arc. As a team, Hillsboro shot 20-for-46 (44 percent) for the game, including 9-for-15 from behind the three-point line. Wamego managed just 18-for-51 from the field (35 percent) and 4-for-17 (23 percent) from behind the arc.

BOYS -- TMP took an early 9-2 lead before Hillsboro launched 9--0 run to take an 11-9 lead at the first break. The defensive brawl continued into the second period. A basket by Josh Wiebe with 2:12 to go tied the game at 19, and neither team managed another point before halftime.

TMP took the lead with a traditional three-point play within the first minute of the third quarter. With the score tied again at 24, Luke Moore completed a traditional three-point play for HHS. But six straight points by TMP gave the Monarchs a 30-26 lead with 1:05 left. Thiessen scored a basket with 44 seconds left, then Moore made one of two free throws after TMP’s Drew O’Brien was called for a technical foul with 9.9 seconds left in the period. With the ensuing possession, Thiessen made TMP pay when he drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to give HHS a 32-30 lead and a huge momentum advantage.

Thiessen duplicated his buzzer-beater heroics with another three 35 seconds into the final period. Wiebe followed with a basket in the paint off a great no-look bounce-pass assist from Jesse Allen. When Moore scored in the paint on an assist from Weinbrenner, he ignited a 9-0 run to the finish line for a 51-36 victory.

Thiessen finished with 13 and Ratzlaff 11 to pace HHS, who improved to 9-3 with the win. As a team, the Trojans shot 35 percent (19-54) from the floor, compared to 36 percent (13-36) by TMP.

In addition to limiting TMP to 18 fewer shots from the floor, the Trojans forced 23 Monarch turnovers while committing only eight for a 23-7 edge in points off mistakes. The taller Monarchs held a 30-18 lead in rebounds.

CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY -- In a marque matchup, the 12-0 Trojans will take on 11-0 Riley County in the title game in a matchup of the top two teams in Class 3A. The game is scheduled for a 6:15 p.m. start. Hills­boro boys will square off with rival Hesston (7-4) for the championship at 8 p.m.

Shaq Thiessen gets TMP's Eddie Lin into the air near the Trojan basket. Thiessen came off the bench to lead HHS with 13 points.   Christian Ratzlaff drives past TMP's Jacob Fouts during the first half. Ratzlaff hit some big shots late to help HHS past the Monarchs.