By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team ended a two-game slide by besting Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 42-38 in a Red Rock Conference clash in Hills Friday.
The game was in doubt as ML-B-O took a 32-31 edge into the final eight minutes of play, but the Patriots put together an extended run that settled the issue in the fourth quarter.
After the Wolverines scored the first two points of the fourth quarter, H-BC went on an 11-0 run between the 7:30 and 2:00 marks of the period to gain a 42-34 lead. ML-B-O scored the game’s final four points, but the Wolverines couldn’t overcome H-BC’s late run.
The Patriots sported a 10-9 lead after eight minutes of play before falling behind 24-19 at the intermission.
According to Patriot coach Tom Goehle, it was H-BC’s reserves that made the victory possible.
"We saw a great effort from our bench. We played an aggressive style of basketball the whole game, and we were able to go deeper into our bench because of the way our reserves played. This probably was one of our best defensive efforts as far as pressuring the ball," he said.
Melinda Feucht, one of H-BC’s key reserves, came up big for the Patriots late in the game by scoring 10 of her 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter. Feucht also had four steals in the game.
Erin Boeve, who blocked four shots for the winners, had a double-double with 14 points and 14
rebounds. Cassi Tilstra pitched in six assists and five steals. Brittney Rozeboom contributed four assists.
The 7-6 Patriots play road games against Comfrey and West Lyon tonight and Saturday respectively before hosting Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster Tuesday.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 0 0 3-4 3, Bush 0 1 0-0 3, Feucht 7 0 0-0 14, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, S.Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 2 0 0-0 4, Boeve 5 0 4-5 14, Olson 1 0 0-2 2, Mulder 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 17 of 50 field goals (34 percent), seven of 11 free throws (67 percent), 32 rebounds, nine turnovers.
ML-B-O: 17 of 46 field goals (37 percent), four of six free throws (67 percent), 27 rebounds, 22 turnovers.