HHS falls to Kingman, Hoisington

Sophomore guard Sienna Kaufman drives for a fast-break basket against Kingman?s Shyanne Jackson as Trojan teammate Tassa?nee Sanchez backs up the play. Kaufman hit the floor on contact, but no foul was called.Hillsboro would have had its hands full against King?man Friday even with a healthy Alex Ratzlaff in the lineup.

But with their team leader absent, the Trojans simply did not have enough firepower as the Eagles rolled to a 61-42 victory on their home court.

Kingman improved to 12-5 overall and 7-1 in the league while the Trojans slipped to 10-7 and 5-3.

The Eagles jumped to a 6-0 lead before Abby Sechrist put Hillsboro on the board with a basket at the 5:09 mark. The Trojans closed the gap to 10-8 when Sienna Kaufman scored with 2:50 left, but a 9-4 burst gave the Eagles a 19-12 lead at the first break.

Kingman pushed the margin to 25-14 in the first 2:22 of the second quarter and led 37-23 at intermission. Hills?boro managed only 2-for-6 shooting for the quarter, but hung in on the strength of 7-for-10 free-throw shooting.

Hillsboro pulled to within 11 points at 43-32 with 2:30 left in the third quarter, but the Eagles ended the quarter with a 7-0 burst that boosted their lead to 18 points.

The Trojans continued to compete, but simply could not reel in the Eagles during the final quarter.

Seven Trojans contributed points, led by Tassa?nee San?chez with 17. King?man?s Bailey Bangert led all scorers with 26 points, including 5-for-7 success from behind the arc.

?I told them when we executed and played as a team, we did some really good things,? coach Nathan Hie?bert said. ?We had stretches where we defended well, we rebounded.

?We?d like Alex to be here, but it gives some opportunities for other girls to step up,? he added. ?They were doing some nice things, but a lot of possessions we didn?t have five girls together doing the right things. We talk about five girls?every possession, offensively and defensively. It has to happen in order for us to do good things.?

Hoisington?The Trojans, who trailed 28-14 at intermission on Tuesday, nearly crawled out of the hole in the third period only to see the game slip away in the final quarter for a 48-38 loss.

Coming in with comparable records, the teams were tied 6-6 at the 3:51 mark of the first quarter when Hills?boro suddenly lost power. Five turnovers later, the Tro?jans trailed, 14-6.

A free throw by Tassanee Sanchez and a three-point basket by Alex Ratzlaff in the final minute made the score 16-10 at the first break.

Hillsboro made all four of its free throws in the second quarter, but missed all six of its shots from the floor. Hoi?sington, meanwhile, was 4-for-4 from the field and made both free throws to build a 14-point halftime lead.

?It had a weird feel to it,? coach Nathan Hiebert said of his team?s play. ?The first quarter we were trading buckets, but it didn?t seem like we were in sync. Our urgency and execution was good at times, but we looked tired.?

To their credit, the Tro?jans came to life in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 15-4 to close the gap to 32-19 as the quarter ended. Ratzlaff scored six points and Sanchez five to fuel the comeback.

But the comeback died in the fourth quarter. Hillsboro was shut out until Sanchez scored a layup off a steal with 2:41 left in the game. By then, Hoisington had built a 42-29 lead.

Ratzlaff and Sanchez accounted for all but eight Trojan points for the game with 18 and 12, respectively.

Rylie Koester tossed in 21 points and Emma Harmon 17 to lead Hoisington.

Coming?The road doesn?t get easier for the Trojans in their three final regular-season games. Haven (12-4, 6-2) was to come to Brown Gymna?sium Tuesday.

The Trojans then travel to Hesston (12-5, 6-2) Friday before capping the regular season Tuesday with a game against state-ranked Sterling (16-1, 8-0).

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