The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team improved to 5-0 after going 2-0 last week. The Luverne Cardinals, on the other hand, went 0-2 and fell to 3-4 overall.
The undefeated Patriots opened the week by disposing of Mountain Lake Area 65-35 at home on Thursday, Feb. 4.
The Patriots then put together a strong second half to defeat the Luverne Cardinals 52-39 at home on Friday, Feb. 5.
“It was nice getting back to games after a nine-day layoff,” H-BC head coach Kale Wiertzema said.
“I thought we did some nice things both nights. We did a much better job getting ourselves to the free-throw line in the second half against MLA and the Luverne game.”
He said both MLA and Luverne exposed some areas for H-BC to improve on.
“We definitely need to do a better job taking care of the ball and focusing on player tendencies defensively,” Wiertzema said.
The Cardinals opened the week with a 51-44 road loss to Redwood Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
H-BC 52, LHS 39
The Patriots outscored the Cardinals 32-21 to pick up a 52-39 victory over their Rock County foe on Friday, Feb. 5.
The two teams traded baskets early. With the game tied at 4-4, Luverne’s Brooklynn Ver Steeg put the Cardinals up 6-4.
With Luverne holding an 8-7 lead, a Kira John bucket put the Cardinals up 10-7.
A Ver Steeg fast-break layup put the Cardinals up 16-9 at the 7:42 mark in the first half. Unfortunately for the junior guard and the Cardinals, Ver Steeg got injured on the play and was sidelined.
The Patriots then closed out the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 20-18 lead into the locker room.
H-BC junior Kenadie Fick opened the scoring in the second half by knocking down a corner jumper to put the Patriots up 22-18.
It was a sign of things to come for Fick, as she would go on to knock down four three-pointers in the second half.
A Christina Wagner three-pointer gave the Cardinals a 23-22 lead.
The Patriots wasted little time in reclaiming the lead, as Taryn Rauk hit a three-pointer on the next possession to put the home team back up on top 25-23.
A pair of Fick three-pointers put the Patriots up 38-32.
With the Patriots holding a 39-32 lead, Fick hit two more three-pointers to put H-BC up 45-32.
Fick finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Rauk finished the game with 15 points. Abby Knobloch scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Before leaving the game due to an injury, Ver Steeg scored six points and grabbed five rebounds for the Cardinals.
Averill Sehr scored 13 points and recorded six steals.
Elizabeth Wagner scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds.
H-BC 65, MLA 35
It was H-BC all the time on Thursday, Feb. 4, when the Patriots defeated Mountain Lake Area 65-35 at home.
The Patriots took a 37-18 lead into the locker room and kept their foot on the gas in the second half, outscoring MLA 28-17 to pick up the 65-35 victory.
Rauk finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Fick scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds.
Knobloch scored four points and grabbed eight rebounds.
RV 51, LHS 44
Luverne was outscored 36-27 in the second half of their 51-44 road loss to Redwood Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
The first half was a defensive struggle between the two Big South Conference rivals, with Luverne holding a slim 17-15 lead.
A second-half offensive outburst from Redwood Valley propelled them to a seven-point victory over Luverne.
Elizabeth Wagner scored a team-leading 20 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists.
Ver Steeg finished the game with 12 points.