By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team served notice that it will be a force to contend with during the upcoming South Section 3A Tournament Thursday night.
Playing No. 1-seeded Adrian on the Dragons’ home floor, H-BC pulled off an upset by toppling the Dragons 58-51 in overtime.
H-BC, which will be the fifth seed for the post-season tournament, upped its Red Rock Conference record to 10-5 with the win.
Adrian, which had not lost a league game prior to Thursday, sported a 14-1 mark after the loss.
The game was a tight one from beginning to end.
H-BC led 12-11 after eight minutes of play before falling behind 25-21 at intermission.
The Patriots outscored Adrian 16-10 in the third quarter to gain a 37-35 cushion, which set the stage for an exciting finish.
H-BC led 45-44 before Adrian’s Andrea Lonneman converted a field goal with 30 seconds remaining to give the Dragons a 46-45 edge.
The Patriots missed their initial shot during their ensuing possession, but Patriot Erin Boeve grabbed the rebound and converted it into a basket with 12 seconds left to put H-BC in front 47-46.
Adrian received a break during its next possession when a loose ball ended up in the hands of Lonneman, who was fouled in the act of shooting with seven seconds remaining. Lonneman tied the game by making one of two charity shots, and Dragon Maria Gengler blocked an H-BC shot at the end of regulation play to force overtime.
The overtime session belonged to the Patriots as they outscored Adrian 11-4 without trailing in the period.
H-BC, which missed three one-and-one charity shots in the fourth quarter to keep Adrian in the game, prevailed in overtime by making seven of 10 free throws.
Erin Boeve, who had 14 rebounds and blocked six shots, scored six points in overtime and led the winners with 16 points.
Cassi Tilstra scored 14 points, passed for six assists and charted four steals for H-BC, while Melinda Feucht added six assists, three steals and 12 points.
Sarah Rozeboom, Kelly Mulder and Amanda Olson nabbed nine, eight and seven rebounds for H-BC. Rozeboom also recorded four steals.
Gengler scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Adrian.
Box score
H-BC
B.Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Bush 0 0 0-0 0, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Feucht 5 0 2-2 12, Tilstra 6 0 2-4 14, S.Rozeboom 2 0 2-5 6, Boeve 6 0 4-4 16, Olson 3 0 2-2 8, Mulder 1 0 0-2 2.
Adrian
Heronimus 4 0 1-3 9, Honermann 3 0 1-1 7, A.Henning 2 0 0-0 4, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Lonneman 3 0 1-2 7, Gengler 8 0 2-4 18.
Team statistics
H-BC: 23 of 57 field goals (40 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), 45 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
Adrian: 23 of 60 field goals (38 percent), five of 10 free throws (50 percent), 31 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
