By John Rittenhouse
Adrian knocked Hills-Beaver Creek out of the unbeaten ranks in Red Rock Conference West girls' basketball play by upending the Patriots 46-29 in Adrian Friday.
The game was tight for three quarters before the home-standing Dragons put together an impressive run in the fourth quarter to win by 17.
With Adrian's win over the Patriots, and Southwest Christian's 57-48 victory over Fulda the same night, the RRC West turned into a log jam at the top of the standings. Fulda, H-BC and Adrian now have one league loss each.
Adrian did its part to tighten the title chase by toppling the Patriots.
The teams were separated by no more than five points at the first three quarter breaks, but the Dragons turned a 30-25 lead into a 17-point win by outscoring H-BC 16-4 in the final eight minutes of play.
Maria Gengler scored all four of her points during Adrian's fourth quarter run, which featured six other Dragons contributing two points each to the rally.
Adrian led 12-10 and 20-17 at the first two quarter stops.
Sarah Kruger tossed in 10 points to lead the winners. Andrea Burzlaff charted five rebounds and four blocked shots. Kylie Heronimus and Jenna Honermann contributed four assists each to the cause.
Erin Boeve scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for H-BC. Cassi Tilstra added 10 points.
Box score
H-BC
Rentschler 0 0 0-2 0, Tilstra 5 0 0-0 10, Broesder 1 0 3-7 5, S.Rozeboom 0 0 0-2 0, Boeve 5 0 4-6 14.
Adrian
Heronimus 4 0 0-0 8, Bo.Bullerman 3 0 0-0 6, Honermann 2 0 0-0 4, Burzlaff 4 0 0-1 8, Kruger 4 0 2-2 10, Gengler 2 0 0-0 4, Knips 1 0 4-4 6.
Team statistics
H-BC: 11 of 41 field goals (27 percent), seven of 17 free throws (41 percent), 16 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
Adrian:20 of 40 field goals (50 percent), six of seven free throws (86 percent), 20 rebounds, 12 turnovers.