Full-court pressure leads to Lady Indians' 2nd win 
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — Once the Hillsboro Lady Indians switched to a full-court pressure defense in the first half, the entire landscape of the non-league game between the Lady Indians and Fairfield Lady Lions changed.
Hillsboro's defense forced multiple turnovers, which led to points as HHS won their second game of the season 48-23, Wednesday at Hillsboro High School.
"Our press was big for us," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "Coming off the holiday break, we were sluggish in practice and at the start of this game, so we switched our defense to gain some energy."
Hillsboro freshman Hannah Kibler was the breakout player for either team as she finished with a game-high 16 points, as she came off the bench for HHS.
"Hannah had a nice game," Moberly said. "She not only led us in scoring, but she rebounded well. Hannah seems to fit into what we are doing and understands what we need from her."
Trista Rhodes and Kaylynn Bell followed with eight points each for the Lady Indians as they broke a four-game losing streak. The Lady Indians' other win was a home victory over the London Lady Red Raiders.
As for FHS, they were led by sophomore Shelby Smithson, who scored 13 points as she sat half the second quarter and over three minutes in the third quarter due to gaining her fourth foul in the second frame. FHS played the game without one of their leading scorers with Heather Cox unavailable to play.
FHS head coach Matt Hodson said his team has struggled against the press all season.
"We freak out when we are pressed," he said. "We get anxious … there is no other way to describe it.
"We will continue to keep working on it. We are young, and though most of the team is freshmen, I told them after the game we are nine games into the season … we aren't freshmen anymore."
Though FHS lost their eighth consecutive game, they led in the first quarter, at one point by five points at 8-3 with 3:50 left in the opening eight minutes.
The FHS scoring began with points from Smithson, followed by HHS gaining three consecutive points from Rhodes and Whitney Earley. FHS answered with six straight points from the trio of Lydia Sowders, Smithson and Justice Hattan.
"We had a lot of other kids step up for us," Hodson said. "We had to play some JV players a lot of minutes, and that isn't fair to them. They did their best, and I'm proud of that."
The first ended in an 8-8 score with HHS, who converted to their full-court pressure, tallying five consecutive points to end the first half with the help from Danielle Gillman and Kibler.
Once the second frame began, HHS had defense on the mind, and lots of it as they forced turnover after turnover on various parts of the court.
HHS expanded their lead to five points as Kibler sank a jumper and Rhodes converted a three-point play, as Madison Colliver forced a steal, passing to Rhodes who was fouled.
After points from Smithson, HHS finished the second on a 9-3 run for a lead of 20-13 at the half. But soon after, Smithson was charged with her fourth foul.
"We debated on taking Shelby out after her third foul, and we were going to with around a minute left in the half, but once she got her fourth foul, we had no choice," Hodson said.
The Lady Indians outscored FHS 18-7 in the third as Bell added eight points to the HHS lead. Also scoring for HHS in the third were Rhodes, Earley, Kibler and Alex Stratton who made two free throws to help put HHS up 38-20.
With the game in hand, HHS scored 10 points in the final quarter, and Rhodes, Kibler, Carey Juillerat and Britney Bowen all contributed points in the final eight minutes.
For the Lady Lions, they scored 10 points in the second half with Jordan Anderson, Hattan and Smithson scoring.
The loss sends FHS to 1-8 overall. HHS improves to 2-7 on the season.
Nearing the halfway point of the season, Moberly wants his team to keep improving.
"I want us to hopefully keep playing hard, and we still need to do a better job of executing some smaller things," he said. "They are growing up and still have a lot of growing to do. I want us to keep getting better every day."
HHS will play again on Wednesday, Jan. 4 as they host Fayetteville. The Lady Lions will play again on Thursday, Jan. 5 as they will also host Fayetteville.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
FHS 08 05 07 03 — 23
HHS 08 12 18 10 — 48
INDIVIDUAL STATS
HHS (48)
T.Moberly 0 (0) 0-2 0
D.Gillman 0 (0) 1-4 1
T.Rhodes 3 (0) 2-3 8
W.Earley 2 (0) 1-2 5
H.Kibler 8 (0) 0-0 16
C.Juillerat 3 (0) 0-1 6
K.Bell 4 (0) 0-0 8
B.Bowen 1 (0) 0-0 2
A.Stratton 0 (0) 2-2 2
TOTALS: 21 (0) 6-14 48
FHS (23)
K.Evans 0 (0) 1-2 1
L.Sowders 1 (0) 0-0 2
C.Hodson 0 (0) 0-1 0
J.Anderson 0 (0) 1-2 1
S.Carson 0 (0) 0-2 0
J.Hattan 1 (0) 2-4 2
C.Sova-Davy 1 (0) 0-0 2
S.Smithson 5 (0) 3-4 13
TOTALS: 8 (0) 7-15 23[[In-content Ad]]
Hillsboro's defense forced multiple turnovers, which led to points as HHS won their second game of the season 48-23, Wednesday at Hillsboro High School.
"Our press was big for us," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "Coming off the holiday break, we were sluggish in practice and at the start of this game, so we switched our defense to gain some energy."
Hillsboro freshman Hannah Kibler was the breakout player for either team as she finished with a game-high 16 points, as she came off the bench for HHS.
"Hannah had a nice game," Moberly said. "She not only led us in scoring, but she rebounded well. Hannah seems to fit into what we are doing and understands what we need from her."
Trista Rhodes and Kaylynn Bell followed with eight points each for the Lady Indians as they broke a four-game losing streak. The Lady Indians' other win was a home victory over the London Lady Red Raiders.
As for FHS, they were led by sophomore Shelby Smithson, who scored 13 points as she sat half the second quarter and over three minutes in the third quarter due to gaining her fourth foul in the second frame. FHS played the game without one of their leading scorers with Heather Cox unavailable to play.
FHS head coach Matt Hodson said his team has struggled against the press all season.
"We freak out when we are pressed," he said. "We get anxious … there is no other way to describe it.
"We will continue to keep working on it. We are young, and though most of the team is freshmen, I told them after the game we are nine games into the season … we aren't freshmen anymore."
Though FHS lost their eighth consecutive game, they led in the first quarter, at one point by five points at 8-3 with 3:50 left in the opening eight minutes.
The FHS scoring began with points from Smithson, followed by HHS gaining three consecutive points from Rhodes and Whitney Earley. FHS answered with six straight points from the trio of Lydia Sowders, Smithson and Justice Hattan.
"We had a lot of other kids step up for us," Hodson said. "We had to play some JV players a lot of minutes, and that isn't fair to them. They did their best, and I'm proud of that."
The first ended in an 8-8 score with HHS, who converted to their full-court pressure, tallying five consecutive points to end the first half with the help from Danielle Gillman and Kibler.
Once the second frame began, HHS had defense on the mind, and lots of it as they forced turnover after turnover on various parts of the court.
HHS expanded their lead to five points as Kibler sank a jumper and Rhodes converted a three-point play, as Madison Colliver forced a steal, passing to Rhodes who was fouled.
After points from Smithson, HHS finished the second on a 9-3 run for a lead of 20-13 at the half. But soon after, Smithson was charged with her fourth foul.
"We debated on taking Shelby out after her third foul, and we were going to with around a minute left in the half, but once she got her fourth foul, we had no choice," Hodson said.
The Lady Indians outscored FHS 18-7 in the third as Bell added eight points to the HHS lead. Also scoring for HHS in the third were Rhodes, Earley, Kibler and Alex Stratton who made two free throws to help put HHS up 38-20.
With the game in hand, HHS scored 10 points in the final quarter, and Rhodes, Kibler, Carey Juillerat and Britney Bowen all contributed points in the final eight minutes.
For the Lady Lions, they scored 10 points in the second half with Jordan Anderson, Hattan and Smithson scoring.
The loss sends FHS to 1-8 overall. HHS improves to 2-7 on the season.
Nearing the halfway point of the season, Moberly wants his team to keep improving.
"I want us to hopefully keep playing hard, and we still need to do a better job of executing some smaller things," he said. "They are growing up and still have a lot of growing to do. I want us to keep getting better every day."
HHS will play again on Wednesday, Jan. 4 as they host Fayetteville. The Lady Lions will play again on Thursday, Jan. 5 as they will also host Fayetteville.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
FHS 08 05 07 03 — 23
HHS 08 12 18 10 — 48
INDIVIDUAL STATS
HHS (48)
T.Moberly 0 (0) 0-2 0
D.Gillman 0 (0) 1-4 1
T.Rhodes 3 (0) 2-3 8
W.Earley 2 (0) 1-2 5
H.Kibler 8 (0) 0-0 16
C.Juillerat 3 (0) 0-1 6
K.Bell 4 (0) 0-0 8
B.Bowen 1 (0) 0-0 2
A.Stratton 0 (0) 2-2 2
TOTALS: 21 (0) 6-14 48
FHS (23)
K.Evans 0 (0) 1-2 1
L.Sowders 1 (0) 0-0 2
C.Hodson 0 (0) 0-1 0
J.Anderson 0 (0) 1-2 1
S.Carson 0 (0) 0-2 0
J.Hattan 1 (0) 2-4 2
C.Sova-Davy 1 (0) 0-0 2
S.Smithson 5 (0) 3-4 13
TOTALS: 8 (0) 7-15 23[[In-content Ad]]