Hillsboro girls, boys claim first wins

The drought is over. Both Hillsboro teams broke into the win column for the first time this season with victories in the final round of the Moundridge Preseason Tournament on Saturday. The victories gave each team fifth-place in their respective six-team fields.

The Hillsboro girls opened the day?s schedule with an easy 44-14 win over Lyons. The Trojans used full-court pressure to prompt 41 Lyons turnovers for the game, and hold them to no field goals in the second half and only four for the entire game.

Ten points by Dakota Kaufman in the first quarter to helped the Trojans to a 16-5 start. By halftime the margin was still relative modest at 23-10. But the Trojans, who struggled some in the second half in their first three games, put the hammer down in the third quarter for a 35-13 margin heading into the final period. Kaufman again fueled the surge with six points.

When Elise Heyen scored with 3:21 to play, Hillsboro was up by 30 points at 44-14, kicking in the continuous clock.

Kaufman finished with 22 points for the Trojans, who improved to 1-3 for the season with their 1-2 showing in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the Hillsboro boys prevailed 43-38 over Little River, but it was a hard-fought battle all the way. The Trojans? defense kept them in the game while their poor shooting kept Little River in the game.

For the night, Hillsboro made only 16 of 56 field-goal attempts (29 percent) while limiting Little River to 14-for-39 shooting (36 percent). Neither team sparkled at the line either; Hillsboro made eight of 14 free-throws while Little River managed only eight of 17, including four misses on the front end of a one-and-one.

The game was close all the way. Hillsboro claimed an 11-8 lead after one quarter when Jesse Allen bagged a 3-pointer in the final second. The Trojans bumped the lead to 24-20 at halftime, and enjoyed their largest lead of the night when Ben Bebermeyer tossed in a 25-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give HHS a 36-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Redskins scored the first two baskets of the period to draw close at 36-34, but they never pulled even.

Hillsboro, with its 1-2 record at Moundridge, is 1-3 for the year.

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