The Hillsboro High School basketball teams ended their pre-holiday schedule in a festive mood following a pair of comfortable wins at Sterling on Friday night.
The Trojan girls used a 17-4 third quarter as a springboard to a 42-26 victory. HHS led 11-4 at the end of one quarter and 16-11 at halftime.
A pair of baskets by Kassidi Luthi in the first 41 seconds of the third quarter ignited the decisive surge for Hillsboro. Dakota Kaufman ended the quarter with a pair of baskets in the final 30 seconds to push the lead to 33-15..
The Trojans twice pushed the margin to 20 points early in the final period, and then again with 2:10 left in the game (42-22) to coast to the victory..
Kaufman led the Trojans with 14 and Luthi finished with 10 as the team improved to 3-2..
A 10-0 start by the HHS boys set the tone for their eventual 58-43 victory. Hillsboro led by a 13-3 margin after one quarter and 24-13 at the half..
The Trojans pushed the lead to 23 (37-14) when Daniel Jost scored off a steal with 5:06 left in the third quarter before settling for an 18-point spread at the end of the quarter, 47-29..
The game got a bit ragged in the final period, and Sterling finished the last 2 minutes with a 5-2 bump to pull the final margin to 15..
David Lowen led the Trojans with 18 points and Jost finished with 16 as Hillsboro improves to 3-2..
The Trojans? game with Nickerson, which was snowed out on Tuesday, won?t be played until the very end of the regular season, Feb. 26.