Hillsboro splits games with Lyons

Back on the home court after two road games last week, the Hillsboro basketball teams encountered very different fates when Lyons came to town Tuesday night. The Trojan girls lost in double overtime, 56-47, while the Trojan boys finished their game with a running clock in a 56-26 victory.

GIRLS — The two teams came into the game winless in the Central Kansas League, and with a challenging homestretch of the regular season ahead of them, the Trojans started the game energetically. But points were hard to come by for both teams in the early going.

Lyons took an early lead when freshman Bailey Hollinger nailed a three-pointer 12 seconds into the contest. Paige Proffitt responded 20 seconds later with a basket for Hillsboro, setting the tone for the close contest that followed.

Lyons led 10-7 after one quarter, but Hillsboro pulled into a 12-12 tie at the 5:04 mark of the second quarter on a free throw by Trinity Malm. Unfortunately, the Trojans managed only four more points before halftime, enabling the Lions to take 21-16 lead into intermission.

The competitive continued into the second half. Hillsboro sliced two points off Lyons’ lead during the third quarter and trailed 28-25. When Hillsboro’s Sienna Kaufman scored the first points of the fourth quarter, the lead after that never exceeded two points until the final buzzer with a 36-36 tie.

Lyons led by four points led 43-39 with 22 seconds left in the first overtime, but Rebecca Kaufman and Abby Sechrist each canned one of two free-throw attempts and Mesa Merrel scored with three seconds left to send the game into a second over time tied at 43.

At that point, the Trojans seemed to grow weary. The second overtime turned into a foul-fest, at least by Hillsboro. Lyons scored 13 points in the second overtime — all but two of them came at the free-throw line, where they made 11 of 16 opportunities. Hillsboro never made it to the free-throw line once and managed only two field goals.

Merrell scored 15 points to lead the Trojans, but as a team Hillsboro shot 28 percent (16-57) from the floor and made only 12 of 22 free throws. Lyons’ shooting percentage was even lower at 25 percent (16-63) but they made 21 of 36 free throws for the game. Ruth Pineda scored 18 and Hollinger 16 to lead the visitors.

With the loss, the Trojans slip to 5-11 for the season and 0-5 in the league.

BOYS — The Trojans built a 10-0 lead in the first 4:30 of the opening quarter and never looked back. By the end of the quarter, the lead was 14-2. Hillsboro all but sealed the outcome with a 15-7 advantage in the second quarter for a 29-9 lead at halftime.

Coach Darrel Knoll rotated in his players early on, but the team never faltered. After three quarters, Hillsboro led 40-16, but it wasn’t until Joe Knoll nailed four consecutive technical-foul free throws with 2:30 left in the game that the running clock commenced at 56-26 and the scored stayed that way until the final buzzer.

Elias Werth lead the Trojans with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including two three-pointers in four attempts. Carson Herbel and Darian Ratzlaff each added nine points. The Trojans shot just under 40 percent (21-53) from the floor compared to 27 percent (10-37) for the Lions.

With the win, the Trojans improve to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the CKL.

COMING — Hillsboro will host Kingman on Friday.

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