The Hillsboro girls put up a good fight against a talented squad from Thomas More Prep, but in the end it was TMP that walked away with the championship plaque at the Trojan Classic on Saturday night.
The Trojans came out of the gate playing their best basketball of the season, making their first six shots — five consecutive by Dakota Kaufman after an opening bucket by Candace Weinbrenner. When Kaufman added two free throws at the 2:32 mark, the Trojans led 14-4. The period ended at 16-8.
The two teams traded baskets to start the second quarter, but after the Trojans threw away an inbounds pass around the 5:30, the flavor of the game turned sour for Hillsboro. TMP launched a 12-2 run fueled by four HHS turnovers to take the lead at intermission, 24-20.
When the Monarchs scored two baskets in the first 40 seconds of the third period, it appeared they were ready to take control of the contest. But Hillsboro regained its poise and closed TMP?s lead to 35-32 by the end of the quarter.
TMP scored twice early in the fourth quarter to push the lead back to seven. But a pair of free-throws from Kaufman followed by a basket by Allie Faul at the 3:20 mark pulled HHS back to within 39-36. But a couple of lapses on Hillsboro?s help defense underneath led to six straight points from TMP?s Rachel Jacobs that pushed the lead to nine points with 1:17 to go. One last bucket by Kaufman closed out the scoring for both teams.
Kaufman played a strong game on the offensive end, making eight of 11 field-goal attempts and all six free-throws to finish with a game-high 22 points. For TMP, Jacobs was the only player to break double digits, finishing with 18 points and she pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
For the game, Hillsboro outshot TMP 50 percent to 38 percent, but the Monarchs put up 20 more shots than HHS to compensate. The two teams were almost even in total rebounds (HHS 24, TMP 25), but the Monarchs had a decisive 12-4 edge on the offensive boards. They committed only nine turnovers to Hillsboro?s 18.
The loss ended Hillsboro eight-game winning streak and brought its season record to 8-4 for the season. TMP improved to 12-1 with its 11th straight win.
(Free Press photos by Brad Wiseman)
