Written by by Brian Huxman
Tuesday, 25 January 2000 18:00
It wasn’t poetry in motion last Tuesday night for the Hillsboro High School girls’ basketball team against Smoky Valley.
In fact, the game read more like a horror novel.
But when the story ended, Hillsboro was on top, 37-33, even though they played sub-par basketball for most the ballgame.
Hillsboro (8-1) trailed the Vikings by a point at halftime. Smoky Valley came into the game with a meager 1-7 record.
All-state prospect Angela Kroeker again struggled to get on track offensively, hitting just 4-of-21 shots for the game and finishing with only eight points, her lowest output of the season.
But when the game was on the line, she and fellow senior Heather Matz stepped up.
With less than two minutes to go, Kroeker drove the lane and hit a jumper to give Hillsboro a three-point lead.
Matz scored just one point the entire game, but it came with less than a minute left and gave the Trojans a four-point lead.
There were few bright spots in the game for the Trojans, who shot a frigid 14-64 from the floor (22 percent), including only three of 14 from behind the arc.
Sophomore Jill Hein, who carried the offensive load for the Hillsboro most of the game, and led the team with 12 points and seven rebounds. She also contributed a solid defensive effort with four steals.
Tonight, at 6:30 p.m., the top-seeded Trojans will take on Ellsworth (1-8) in the first round of the Southeast of Saline Invitational tournament.
This is the first year the girls will be participating in the event. Win or lose, they will play on consecutive nights, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Other teams in the tournament are Concordia (5-4), Junction City (5-5), Salina South (4-6), Southeast of Saline (3-6), Abilene (3-8) and Ell Saline (3-7).
Seeding was determined on the basis of record.
Sports 
