Hillsboro?s basketball teams took care of business at Ellinwood Tuesday night as the favored Trojans squads both came away with double-digit wins. The Hillsboro girls won 39-19 while the boys won by a similar margin, 61-42.
In the girls? game, it was apparent early that the Trojan defense was more than capable of containing the low-flying Eagles (5-12 and 0-8 coming in). But it did take awhile before the Trojans got their own offense going.
Hillsboro took a 5-4 lead at the end of the first quarter when Allie Faul nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. By halftime the game was still close with a meager score of 11-8.
The game turned in the third quarter when HHS built an 8-2 surge over the first four minutes, with Kassidi Luthi contributing five of those points. Hillsboro finished the quarter with a 6-0 run over the final 3:12 for a 27-12 margin at the break.
Six different players contributed points for Hillsboro in the final quarter as the Trojans slowly extended the lead to the final 20-point margin.
Dakota Kaufman scored 12 points and Luthi eight as the Trojans improved to 9-8 overall and 4-5 in league play.
The boys? game followed a similar theme, as the Trojans needed some time to find its stride on offense. Hot shooting by Ellinwood in the early going carried the Eagles to an 18-13 lead after one quarter.
An 8-0 Hillsboro run in the first 1:30 of the second period vaulted the Trojans into the lead for good at 21-18. Clay Shewey hit two more 3-pointers to give him three in the quarter and 18 points in the first half to help HHS to a 34-23 halftime lead.
Hillsboro held Ellinwood to one basket — a 3-pointer — and four free throws in the third period as the lead grew to 43-30.
David Loewen scored two quick baskets to start the fourth quarter and Hillsboro never looked back as the lead grew to as much as 22 points (56-34) midway through the period.
Shewey finished with 26 points for the night as Hillsboro improved to 11-6 overall and 7-2 in the league. Ellinwood dropped to 11-7 and 4-5.
