First quarter costs Hillsboro Lady Indians against Western Brown
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Having a scoreless first quarter, plus players battling the flu, the Hillsboro Lady Indians still managed to battle tough, overcome obstacles and stay within striking distance of the visiting Western Brown Lady Broncos.
That said, the issue of being outscored 10-0 in the first frame haunted the Lady Indians on their home court in non-conference action Saturday afternoon, falling by a 54-44 score to the now 13-win Lady Broncos team.
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HHS (6-14) had opportunities to score points in the opening frame, but shots didn’t fall through the hoop. For Western Brown, they scored first at the 7:05 mark of the quarter and later at the 3:20 mark, with the four points tallied all off two shots from Allie Buttree. Following a Hillsboro timeout, Western Brown came back with consecutive 3-pointers from Becky Roblero-Solis to put the visitors from the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference (SBAAC) ahead by a 10-0 score.
That score stood when the first quarter was completed, and HHS scored their first two points of the game with a basket while being fouled by Gracie Dean, who led the Lady Indians with 18 points in the game as she was battling illness.
Dean not only scored 18 total points, but she added six rebounds (two offensive), two assists and three steals as well.
“I was really proud of our effort today, and we really did struggle to make anything in the first quarter. Thought we did a god job defensively all day, but we had too many turnovers and that led to some easy baskets,” HHS head coach JR Moberly said. “We did a lot of nice things offensively, and again, I was really pleased with their effort. We are battling sickness and had a numbers issue today, even with the JV team.
“The effort the girls had today. At one point they were down 15 and they battled back, cut it to four. A lot of the girls put together some good plays. If we don’t get down in the first quarter, it is a different game.”
After those two points by Dean in the second, Hillsboro’s Christine Page scored two points off a jumper from the corner to make it a six-point deficit. Page ended the game with two points, two rebounds and one steal.
The Lady Broncos answered by scoring the next five points for a 15-4 advantage. HHS came back with a basket from Dean (with the assist and steal by Brynn Bledsoe) at the 3:26 mark of the second. The nine-point deficit turned into an 11-point differential when Western Brown had two made free throws. Bledsoe totaled three assists and three steals for the Lady Indians in the loss.
HHS slashed the Lady Broncos’ lead to six points with 1:47 on the clock with a jumper by Karleigh Hopkins and a 3-pointer from Dean, making the score 17-11 in favor of WBHS, as that score stood when halftime arrived. Karleigh Hopkins finished the game with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one block and three steals.
Western Brown won the third frame at 20-13 with their lead getting to as many as 16 points on two occasions, when Western Brown led by a 35-19 score with around 2:00 left on the third quarter clock. HHS came back with a layup and 3-pointer by Dean, but Western Brown was too strong in the final stages of the third with four straight points to end the frame at 39-24 with the visitors leading.
“Gracie wanted to take the shot, and she wanted the basketball,” Moberly said.
HHS had the scoring advantage in the fourth at 20-17, but it was too late with the Lady Indians losing by 10 points, as they got to within four points of the Lady Broncos’ lead with 2:35 left in the frame following a basket by Josie Hopkins, as she totaled nine rebounds (four offensive) and one steal to go with her 11 points scored.
A 3-pointer with around 2:00 on the clock by the Lady Broncos put the game just out of reach for HHS in the final moments as they never recovered from being down by seven points, eventually losing the game by 10 points.
Also for HHS in the game, Kayden Watson finished with five rebounds and two assists. Sinai Roberts totaled two points, one rebound and one steal. Mallory Parsons had one steal for HHS. As a team, HHS finished with 51 rebounds, while Western Brown had 30.
The Lady Broncos were led by Emma Sams and Roblero-Solis with each scoring 12 points. WBHS finished 13-of-24 with their free-throw shooting, and the Indians were 7-of-15. HHS shot 20 percent in the first half from the field but came back with a 40.7-percent effort in the second half, a half where they scored 33 of their 44 points.
Next for Hillsboro is a non-conference game on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at Zane Trace High School. From there, the Lady Indians will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 8 when they host the McClain Lady Tigers in FAC action.
(More photos will be added.)
That said, the issue of being outscored 10-0 in the first frame haunted the Lady Indians on their home court in non-conference action Saturday afternoon, falling by a 54-44 score to the now 13-win Lady Broncos team.
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HHS (6-14) had opportunities to score points in the opening frame, but shots didn’t fall through the hoop. For Western Brown, they scored first at the 7:05 mark of the quarter and later at the 3:20 mark, with the four points tallied all off two shots from Allie Buttree. Following a Hillsboro timeout, Western Brown came back with consecutive 3-pointers from Becky Roblero-Solis to put the visitors from the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference (SBAAC) ahead by a 10-0 score.
That score stood when the first quarter was completed, and HHS scored their first two points of the game with a basket while being fouled by Gracie Dean, who led the Lady Indians with 18 points in the game as she was battling illness.
Dean not only scored 18 total points, but she added six rebounds (two offensive), two assists and three steals as well.
“I was really proud of our effort today, and we really did struggle to make anything in the first quarter. Thought we did a god job defensively all day, but we had too many turnovers and that led to some easy baskets,” HHS head coach JR Moberly said. “We did a lot of nice things offensively, and again, I was really pleased with their effort. We are battling sickness and had a numbers issue today, even with the JV team.
“The effort the girls had today. At one point they were down 15 and they battled back, cut it to four. A lot of the girls put together some good plays. If we don’t get down in the first quarter, it is a different game.”
After those two points by Dean in the second, Hillsboro’s Christine Page scored two points off a jumper from the corner to make it a six-point deficit. Page ended the game with two points, two rebounds and one steal.
The Lady Broncos answered by scoring the next five points for a 15-4 advantage. HHS came back with a basket from Dean (with the assist and steal by Brynn Bledsoe) at the 3:26 mark of the second. The nine-point deficit turned into an 11-point differential when Western Brown had two made free throws. Bledsoe totaled three assists and three steals for the Lady Indians in the loss.
HHS slashed the Lady Broncos’ lead to six points with 1:47 on the clock with a jumper by Karleigh Hopkins and a 3-pointer from Dean, making the score 17-11 in favor of WBHS, as that score stood when halftime arrived. Karleigh Hopkins finished the game with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one block and three steals.
Western Brown won the third frame at 20-13 with their lead getting to as many as 16 points on two occasions, when Western Brown led by a 35-19 score with around 2:00 left on the third quarter clock. HHS came back with a layup and 3-pointer by Dean, but Western Brown was too strong in the final stages of the third with four straight points to end the frame at 39-24 with the visitors leading.
“Gracie wanted to take the shot, and she wanted the basketball,” Moberly said.
HHS had the scoring advantage in the fourth at 20-17, but it was too late with the Lady Indians losing by 10 points, as they got to within four points of the Lady Broncos’ lead with 2:35 left in the frame following a basket by Josie Hopkins, as she totaled nine rebounds (four offensive) and one steal to go with her 11 points scored.
A 3-pointer with around 2:00 on the clock by the Lady Broncos put the game just out of reach for HHS in the final moments as they never recovered from being down by seven points, eventually losing the game by 10 points.
Also for HHS in the game, Kayden Watson finished with five rebounds and two assists. Sinai Roberts totaled two points, one rebound and one steal. Mallory Parsons had one steal for HHS. As a team, HHS finished with 51 rebounds, while Western Brown had 30.
The Lady Broncos were led by Emma Sams and Roblero-Solis with each scoring 12 points. WBHS finished 13-of-24 with their free-throw shooting, and the Indians were 7-of-15. HHS shot 20 percent in the first half from the field but came back with a 40.7-percent effort in the second half, a half where they scored 33 of their 44 points.
Next for Hillsboro is a non-conference game on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at Zane Trace High School. From there, the Lady Indians will wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 8 when they host the McClain Lady Tigers in FAC action.
(More photos will be added.)