It was one of those nights when won-loss records weren?t much of a predictor of the actual outcome. The Hillsboro girls, who came in with a 7-9 mark, defeated the visiting 12-4 Kingman Eagles, 42-41, while the 9-7 Trojan boys fell to 7-9 King?man 46-41 after leading at halftime.
GIRLS — Hillsboro led 9-6 when Rebecca Kaufman scored at the 2:03 mark of the opening quarter, but the Eagles finished with a 5-0 run to take an 11-9 lead at the first break.
The Trojans? scoring drought continued through the second period before Alex Ratzlaff scored on a drive to the hole that cut Kingman?s lead to 16-11. That margin held until halftime, with the Eagles taking a 24-19 lead into the locker room.
The Trojans came out with renewed intensity in the third quarter, pulling to within 24-22 at the 5:42 mark. Baskets by Tara Proffitt and Darcy Heinrichs in the final 37 seconds pulled HHS to within one point, 30-29, as the quarter ended.
Kingman was leading 36-31 when Ratzlaff hit a three-point shot on the wing with 3:46 to play. She added a second three at the 2:57 mark and a two-point basket at 2:15 to play to give Hillsboro a 39-36 lead.
But Kingman regained a 41-39 lead with a little more than a minute play. The ball exchanged hands a couple of times before Ratzlaff drained a three from the top of the key with 3.5 second to play to put Hillsboro ahead 42-41. Kingman got off a final shot as time ran out, but Ratzlaff partially blocked it as the Trojans nailed down the win.
Ratzlaff led Hillsboro with 25 points and Proffitt added nine points as the Trojans improved to 8-9 for the year and 5-3 in the Cen?tral Kansas League. King?man dropped to 12-5 and 4-5 in the CKL.
BOYS — Hillsboro seemed to be in control of its destiny in the first half, jumping to an 8-4 lead three minutes into the game. The Trojans still led, 12-10, as the first quarter ended and nudged the lead to 24-21 by halftime.
But the Trojan team that started the third quarter didn?t look like the team that had battled hard in the first half. The Eagles scored the first eight points of the third quarter, and the Trojans never recovered.
At the end of three quarters, Hillsboro trailed by six, 38-32. But the Eagles expanded the lead to 42-34 with 3:53 to play. The Trojans tried to flip the switch back their way, but turnovers and missed shots undermined their effort to make a serious run down the stretch.
Allen scored 10 points, all in the first half, to lead his team. Austin Cross added nine in the paint and Elias Werth scored nine from long distance.
Hillsboro slipped to 9-8 got the year and 3-5 in the CKL. Kingman improved to 8-9 and 5-3.