Hillsboro Lady Indians have dominating effort over Fairfield

LEESBURG — Monday, the Hillsboro Lady Indians showcased why they are an improved team this season, as they traveled to Leesburg and defeated the host Fairfield Lady Lions 59-34 in their Highland County rivalry game at Grandle Gymnasium. 

Hillsboro led 22-4 at the conclusion of the first quarter where they scored the first nine points of the game, leading 9-0 with 5:05 left in the first quarter. Those initial nine points scored began with a layup from Tylee Davis, followed by a steal and layup from Davis, then came another two points from from the sophomore Davis for the 6-0 lead. Davis earned a double-double in limited play, as she finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Next was a 3-pointer by Kyra Boyd for the 9-0 lead with 5:05 on the clock, forcing FHS to call a timeout. Boyd ended the game with 12 points.  

After Fairfield scored two points off free throws by Vivian Henninger, Hillsboro’s Peighton Bledsoe scored two points off a layup while being fouled, followed by a 3-pointer by Davis, putting Hillsboro in front 14-2 with 3:28 left in the opening quarter.

Fairfield's Addison Cannon scored a basket with 3:12 left in the opening frame, but from that point on it was all HHS, as they ended the quarter with an 8-0 run off baskets by Davis (a 3-pointer, and later a layup), a free throw from Boyd and two free throws by Kobie Miles, as she ended the game with 11 points. 

“I thought we played really hard tonight. We got everybody in. It's always good when you can get everybody in because that's a fun environment to play in, especially when you can play that way. This was just a good overall game for us,” HHS head coach Heather Storer said. 

HHS outscored the Lady Lions 9-4 in the second quarter for a 31-8 halftime lead, with Hillsboro starting their second quarter scoring with a basket by Annia Young, but FHS answered with a basket by Cannon with 6:45 left in the quarter. 

Hillsboro had two consecutive baskets by Young, putting the Lady Indians in front by a 28-6 score. The Lady Lions came back with a jumper from Isabelle Hale, though it was the Lady Indians grabbing their largest lead of the game up to that point, as next was a free throw by Boyd, and Hillsboro ended the frame with a another basket from Boyd with the assist (and steal) from Kayla Seeling. 

Once the third quarter ended, the Lady Indians held a 50-22 advantage over Fairfield, winning the frame 19-14. The Lady Indians held a lead as high as 32 points in the quarter with 4:25 left in the third, and led by 28 points once the frame ended. 

Fairfield scored the first points of the third with two free throws from Rilee Quickle, but Hillsboro followed with a 3-pointer by Miles. The Lady Lions answered with a free throw from Henninger, but Boyd knocked down a 3-pointer for Hillsboro with 6:23 left in the third. Next came a layup from Miles, a free-throw by Davis, a fast break layup scored by Boyd, and a free throw from Davis for the aforementioned 32-point lead — and a 9-0 run — putting Hillsboro ahead 43-11. 

From there, the rest of the quarter saw Fairfield have points from Isabelle Hale (a 3-pointer), Miller and Henninger, while HHS had baskets by Bledsoe, Miles and Davis (a 3-pointer).

In the fourth frame, HHS scored nine points with baskets by Miles, Ames, Kiara Boris and Young. Fairfield in the fourth quarter had a 3-pointer by Hale, five points by Miller (including a 3-pointer), two points from Quickle and two points by Henninger. 

Other final scoring totals for HHS included Young (6), Bledsoe (4), Ames (3), Boris (2) and Seeling (2).

“I would like to push the ball even more than what we did, because that's what we do best, is push the ball and run the floor overall,” Storer said. “I thought we shot really well tonight. I thought the girls played really well defensively. We went in out of a couple different defenses, and I love when we can do that and do it effectively in our defense to create our offense. So I'll take that any day.” 

Fairfield was led in scoring by Miller with 10 points, followed by Hale with eight points and Henninger with eight points. The rest of the final scoring for FHS included Quickle (4) and Cannon (4).

Hillsboro’s win lifts them to an overall record of 9-2, as they are also 4-1 in the Frontier Athletic Conference. HHS is scheduled to play again on Saturday, Jan. 4 at home in a non-conference game against the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs at 11:45 a.m.

Fairfield now stands at 1-8 overall and they are 1-4 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Div. II standings. FHS is scheduled to play again on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 4:15 p.m. at home against Portsmouth-Clay in the Chad Hodson Classic. 

BOX SCORE
HHS    22 09 19 09 — 59
FHS    04 04 14 12 — 34

HILLSBORO (59) —  K.Seeling 1 (0) 0-0 2, P.Bledsoe 1 (0) 2-5 4, K.Miles 1 (2) 4-4 11, T.Davis 4 (3) 2-4 19, D.Ames 1 (0) 1-2 3, K.Boyd 2 (2) 2-4 12, K.Boris 1 (0) 0-0 2, A.Young 3 (0) 0-0 6. TOTALS: 14 (7) 11-19 59. 

FAIRFIELD (34) — P.Stahlhut 0 (0) 0-2 0, I.Hale 1 (2) 0-0 8, R.Quickle 1 (0) 2-3 4, K.Miller 3 (1) 1-2 10, V.Henninger 2 (0) 4-7 8, A.Cannon 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 9 (3) 7-14 34.