Hills-Beaver Creek senior post Erin Boeve drives to the basket against Adrian’s Ashley Cox during Friday’s girls’ basketball game in Adrian. Adrian topped the Patriots 84-54 during the Red Rock Conference clash.By John RittenhouseThe Adrian girls’ basketball team made a statement when it played host to Hills-Beaver Creek for an early-season Red Rock Conference game Friday.In a clash of two preseason RRC favorites, the Dragons turned what was a close game for eight minutes into a lopsided 84-54 victory by outscoring the Patriots 69-42 in the final three quarters of play.Adrian, the defending RRC champion, upped its season and league mark to 2-0 with the victory.H-BC slips to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference with the loss.The game looked like it would be a tight one when both teams sported two-point leads in early stages of the first quarter.Adrian sported a 7-6 edge before receiving field goals from Maria Gengler and Andrea Lonneman to open an 11-5 lead, but the Patriots countered with a 4-0 surge capped by Brittney Rozeboom’s layup at the 1:21 mark of the stanza to make it an 11-10 game.The score was 13-12 before Adrian’s Sarah Kruger drained a shot with 15 seconds left to give the Dragons a 15-12 lead heading into the second period.The game swung into Adrian’s favor for good when the hosts went on a 14-0 scoring run in the first 4:20 of the second quarter. The run, which gave AHS a 29-12 lead, featured eight points by Gengler.Adrian padded its lead by 28 points (44-16) when Ashley Cox hit a jumper with 32 seconds remaining in the first half, but H-BC scored the next five points to trail (44-21) at the intermission.Adrian scored the first six points of the third quarter and led 54-24 at one stage of the third quarter.H-BC trimmed the difference to 25 points twice before facing a 64-35 difference at period’s end.The Patriots closed the gap to 22 points at one stage of the fourth quarter before falling by 30 points when the quarter was complete.Gengler poured in 29 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and blocked five shots during a dominating performance for Adrian. Lonneman added a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Kruger chipped in 15 points and seven assists to the winning cause. Kylie Heronimus added seven assists.Cassi Tilstra scored 11 first-half points and led the Patriots with 17 counters, eight rebounds and three steals. Rozeboom netted 11 points for H-BC.Box scoreH-BCRozeboom 3 1 2-2 11, Bush 1 1 0-0 5, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 3 2 5-6 17, Hoyme 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 1 0 7-12 9, Roozenboom 0 0 0-0 0, Olson 3 0 0-0 6, Mulder 1 0 2-2 4.AdrianHenning 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 1 1 0-0 5, Honermann 0 0 0-0 0, Thier 1 0 0-0 2, Banck 0 0 2-2 2, Kruger 6 1 0-0 15, Cox 2 0 0-0 4, Lonneman 7 0 7-11 21, Gengler 13 0 3-4 29, Strand 0 0 0-2 0, Loosbrock 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsH-BC: 17 of 56 field goals (30 percent), 16 of 22 free throws (72 percent), 21 rebounds, 16 turnovers.Adrian: 33 of 59 field goals (58 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), 46 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
