ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DR
The Hillsboro girls’ and boys’ basketball teams opened their Trojan Classic experience with different outcomes Tuesday night.
The Trojan girls, playing against the consensus No. 1 team in Class 3A, Riley County, gave the Falcons about all they could handle but came up short in the end, 42-33.
Hillsboro trailed Riley 10-6 after one quarter, but came back to tie the game by halftime at 20. The third quarter proved pivotal as Megan Starnes scored 10 of her game-high 24 points to fuel her team to a 35-26 advantage at the end of the period.
The Trojans could get no closer than 9 points in the final quarter.
To their credit, the Trojan defense, led by JuliAnne Chisholm, held standout Kelsey Nelson to just 8 points for the night. But Starnes filled the vacuum for the Falcons, who are now 10-0 for the season.
Chisholm lef the Trojan offense with 11 points. Hillsboro is now 4-5 for the season and will take on Cair Paravel-Latin of Topeka at 6 p.m. Thursday in the second round of pool play. If they win, they likely will play for third place on Saturday.
The HIllsboro boys, meanwhile, stayed unbeaten at 9-0 with an impressive 78-60 win over a scrappy Belleville squad. The Trojan didn’t lead in the game until Lucas Hamm nailed a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left in the opening period to give HHS a 14-13 lead at the first break.
But a 25-point explosion in the second quarter, including 11 points from Eric Weinbrenner, put Hillsboro on top by seven at intermission, 39-32.
Hillsboro, with great ball movement and good shooting, slowly but surely extended its lead through the second half — leading 56-33 after three quarters and finally 78-60 at the end of the game.
The win places the Trojans in the championship semifinals on Friday . At 6 p.m. they will take on Thomas More Prep, who defeated Wamego, 58-51.
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