Lady Indians drop season opener at Western Brown

MT. ORAB — The start of the 2024-25 season for the Hillsboro Lady Indians began with a solid first half where they led by three points against the Western Brown Lady Broncos after the first quarter and trailed by just three points at halftime. The fourth quarter didn’t go as well, where the game got away from the Lady Indians, eventually falling to WBHS, 64-55. 

Injuries hampered the Lady Indians in the third quarter against Western Brown, as junior Kyra Boyd was injured with 6:22 left in the frame and not able to return to the non-conference contest. Boyd finished the game with 12 points, including nine points in the first quarter, and with 7:14 left in the third she knocked down a 3-pointer, tying the game at 29-29. 

For the remainder of the third quarter, Hillsboro stayed close with the Lady Broncos, trailing by just a single point at 42-41 when the clock hit all zeroes to end the frame. 

The fourth frame is where Western Brown (1-0) took the upper hand, outscoring Hillsboro 22-14 for the nine-point win over Hillsboro (0-1). 

“They (Western Brown) had some firepower and (J. Jenike) had a nice game,” HHS head coach Heather Storer said. “We didn’t do a good job stopping them with their runs specifically. We couldn’t slow those down, but other than that we had a pretty good night on both ends of the floor.”

For the Lady Indians, sophomore Tylee Davis led the way on the scoreboard with 25 points, along with 10 rebounds for a double-double. 

“Tylee is going to drive a lot of our offense,” Storer said.

Hillsboro also had the aforementioned 12 points by Boyd (five rebounds), followed by six points by freshman Ella Jordan, four points by senior Peighton Bledsoe (two rebounds) and three points by freshman Dinah Ames (four rebounds). HHS also had two points each by junior Kobie Miles (two rebounds) and sophomore Annia Young. Scoring one point was junior Kayla Seeling. HHS also had one rebound each from Seeling, Young and Jordan. 

The first quarter was a solid start to the season for the Lady Indians, leading 13-10 after the eight-minute frame was complete, as Hillsboro’s first points of the season were scored off points in the paint by Jordan, and later two points by Boyd left Hillsboro in front 4-3. Western Brown answered with a 3-pointer from freshman J. Jenike — who led WBHS with 24 points — only to have Boyd equal the feat with a 3-pointer of her own with 4:00 left in the quarter.

The two players exchanged baskets once again later in the first, but two consecutive baskets by Boyd, plus a 2-for-2 trip to the free-throw line by Miles, put HHS ahead 13-8 with 49.6 left in the quarter. WBHS answered with two points by freshman Mayci Murrell for the 13-10 score to end the first quarter. 

Western Brown outscored HHS 17-11 in the second quarter for a 27-24 halftime lead over the Lady Indians, as WBHS junior Peyton Butler started the quarter with two points. Hillsboro came back with a 3-pointer from Davis — her first of four threes in the game — followed by a steal and layup by Bledsoe, and a free throw by Davis that lifted HHS to a seven-point lead at 19-12 with 4:25 left in the second. 

From there, the two teams exchanged points for the next couple minutes with HHS leading 22-16 with 3:08 left in the quarter following a falling jumper by Davis. Next was an 8-0 run by Western Brown, tying the score at 22, then putting them ahead at 24-22 with 1:29 left in the second following a basket by Jenike with 48 seconds left on the clock. 

Davis tied the score at 38.4 with two made free throws, but WBHS took the lead into the locker room at halftime with a 3-pointer by the freshman Jenike near the buzzer for a 27-24 score, as ultimately to end the first half WBHS went on a 11-2 run in the final 2:46 of the quarter. 

The third began with two more points by the Lady Broncos, with sophomore Madilyn Ruby scoring two points while being fouled, followed by two points by Bledsoe and a 3-pointer by Boyd for the aforementioned 29-29 score with 7:14 left in the third. 

WBHS regained the lead with two points, and then came the injury to Boyd with 6:22 on the clock. The third continued to be a strong battle between the two teams with Ames making a put-back bucket and Davis sinking a 3-pointer for a 38-36 deficit for the Lady Indians, and as the quarter had 1:20 left on the clock, Davis scored two more points with an assist off a bounce pass by Jordan to bring HHS back to within three points of tying the score at 42-39. 

HHS cut the Lady Bronco lead to one point at the end of the third with a basket by Jordan for the 42-41 score after three quarters. 

The score was tied in the fourth at 48 with 5:02 left in the game following two points scored at the free-throw line by Ames and a 3-pointer made by Davis. Later, after two points by WBHS, Jordan made a basket to make it a one-point deficit (51-50) for HHS with 4:42 remaining in the final frame. 

WBHS answered in a big way with an 11-0 run for a 12-point lead at 62-50 as points were scored by Ruby, Jenike, Murrell, LuLu Waters and Aubrey Schaffner from the 4:21 mark of the fourth to the 1:47 mark of the quarter. Ruby finished the game with 16 points.

Davis broke up the run of points with a 3-pointer, followed by a fast break basket with 39 seconds left in the fourth. WBHS made two final free throws with shots by Jenike to secure the nine-point win over HHS. 

“I’m disappointed (free-throw shooting), but we had some freshmen step up to the plate tonight. We have to get more confident on the line, but it was first-game jitters, but we can fix that in practice. We'll fix that, and then we'll proceed with the next one,” Storer said. 

More final scoring totals for the Lady Broncos included Waters (four), Murell (nine), Butler (two), Schaffner (three) and sophomore Danica Verdon (six). 

In the JV game, Western Brown defeated Hillsboro, 41-24. WBHS was led by Aubree Taylor with 15 points. For HHS, Piper Wilkin led with 11 points, followed by Dinah Ames with four points. The rest of the HHS JV scoring included Josie Rhoades (three), Chanel Captain (two), Riley Pence (two) and Kiara Boris (two). 

Hillsboro (0-1) is scheduled to play again  Wednesday, Nov. 27 at home vs. the Goshen Lady Warriors at 7 p.m. in non-conference action. 

BOX SCORE
HHS        13 11 17 14 — 55
WBHS    10 17 15 22 — 64    

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