HHS clinches tie for league title

Written by Don Ratzlaff Tuesday, 21 February 2012 14:56

Stephanie Sanders passes the ball along the baseline against Kingman defender Dani Molitor.

The Hillsboro girls outscored Kingman by enough over three quarters Friday to coast to the finish line with a 45-26 road win.

The victory clinched at least a tie for the Central Kansas League title at 7-1 and raised Hillsboro’s season mark to 17-2. The Eagles dropped to 1-7 and 7-12.

In spite of committing five turnovers and shooting 3-for-8 from the floor, Hillsboro built a 12-5 lead by the end of the first period, mostly on the strength of 6-for-9 free-throw shooting and defensive pressure that forced eight Kingman turnovers and limited the Eagles to 2-for-7 shooting.

With Callie Serene tossing in six points, the Trojans began to find their offensive rhythm in the second period, expanding the lead to 26-9 by halftime.

Krista Reimer, who had six points by intermission, scored eight in the third quarter to help HHS inflate the margin to 39-13 by the time it ended. Addie Lackey, who had eight points at halftime, tossed in four more.

Coach Nathan Hiebert said he’s been pleased with the way Reimer and Lackey have asserted themselves offensively in recent games by playing in tandem.

“It’s been fun to watch,” he said. “They seem to be working off of each other a lot better.”

With reserves filtering in during the fourth quarter, King­man’s Dani Molitor finally found her stroke, scoring 11 points for the home team over the first 3:30 of the period. King­man won the final quarter, 13-6.

“Defensively, I was pleased,” coach Nathan Hiebert said about his team’s performance. “We knew what they ran and worked for the past couple of days on really defending the on-ball screen, good hedging. I was really proud of them.”

Prior to her fourth-quarter burst, the Trojans had limited Molitor and teammate Katelynn Martine to 10 points.

“Molitor and Martine are their best players,” he said, “and Martine is a lot better player than what we saw tonight. Steph (Sanders) did a fantastic job on her early on.

“We did a good job of not fouling them,” he added. “That was a big focus of what we wanted to do, and I was proud of the way the girls executed that.”

Halstead—Hillsboro built a 31-point lead late in the third quarter on the way to a 59-38 victory at Halstead last Tuesday.

The Trojans scored almost at will in the early minutes, hitting 10 of their first 12 shots for a 16-5 lead less than halfway through the first period. The second half of the quarter was far less productive as the Trojans settled for a 20-7 lead at the first break.

Halstead hit five straight shots to start the second quarter, but Hillsboro kept pace with 4-for-4 shooting over the same stretch.

The Trojans then got baskets on consecutive steals-and-layups by Maci Schlehuber and Danae Bina to bump the lead to 32-18 by halftime. Addie Lackey contributed 10 points by intermission.

The Trojans put the game in the deep freeze with a hot third quarter, outscoring the home team 24-9. Callie Serene scored eight points and Krista Reimer six during the period.

With a 56-27 lead heading into the final quarter, coach Nathan Hiebert substituted freely, enabling Halstead to chip away at the lead as the Trojan reserves managed only one basket.

Serene led the scoring parade with 13 points. Reimer added 12 to go with Lackey’s 10. Lackey also contributed a team-high six assists and seven rebounds.

The Trojans’ defense forced 22 turnovers while the offense committed only eight. Thanks to the turnovers, Halstead put up 23 fewer shots during the game, but the two teams shot with about 41 percent accuracy.

“Early on, every shot they took was going in, but they were getting wide-open shots,” Hiebert said. “It was like four girls were playing well, and then one girl would break down. It takes all five girls every possession to make a stop.”

The loss dropped Halstead to 2-5 in the league and 4-13 for the season.

Coming—Hillsboro was scheduled to end the regular season Tuesday with a key game at home against Haven.

The Wild­cats and Hesston are one game behind Hillsboro in the race for the league title.

Hillsboro will begin sub-state play next week with a first-round game at home. Pairings and seedings will be announced this week. Check hillsborofreepress.com for the update.