Both Hillsboro teams improved their season records to 8-6 for with victories over Sterling Tuesday night in Brown Gymnasium.
The Hillsboro girls jumped to a 13-1 start and were never seriously threatened on the way to a 53-41 victory.
After Tiffany Rooker hit the first basket of the game at the 6:15 mark, Cassie Kroeker hit back-to-back jumpers and then Allie Faul scored seven consecutive points over a 32-second span — including two baskets on steals — for the 13-1 margin.
The score was 14-4 by the end of the quarter. Two unanswered baskets by Sterling in the final minute of the half pulled the Black Bears back to within single digits by halftime at 25-17.
Hillsboro took control of the game with a 9-2 run through the first four minutes of the third quarter for a 34-19 lead. Both teams struggled to score in the second four minutes as the quarter ended at 37-23.
Sterling got a 3-pointer from Heather Davis and a 2-pointer by Crystal Colston to start the final quarter to pull within 10, but Dakota Kaufman stole the ball and scored to spark an 8-2 surge to put the game out of reach.
Kaufman led HHS with 16 points and Rooker and Faul added 10 each as the Trojans improved to 3-3 in league play.
Meanwhile, the Sterling boys stayed within reach of Hillsboro through the first half, but the Trojans took control in the second half and defeated the Black Bears 55-40 — although the game wasn?t as close as the score might suggest.
HHS jumped to a 13-4 lead after one quarter and maintained a similar margin through halftime with a 26-19 advantage.
In the third quarter, Matt Bennett sank a 3-pointer to pull the Black Bears to within four points, and it was still close at 33-27 when the Trojans ended the quarter with an 10-0 run and a 43-27 lead.
Hillsboro started the final quarter with 10 more unanswered points to put the outcome safely away at 53-27 midway through the period. Sterling made a mild comeback in the final minutes against the Trojan bench.
Clay Shewey finished with a season-high 20 points for HHS while Daniel Jost added 16 and David Loewen 10 as the Trojans upped their league record to 4-2.
