By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls fought off a late challenge by West Lyon to post a 45-43 basketball win in Hills Saturday.
H-BC took a five-point lead (36-31) into the fourth quarter and nearly lost it as the Lions outscored the hosts 12-9 in the final eight minutes of play.
The Patriots, however, never did lose the lead while giving WL some opportunities to move in front late in the game.
"We had a two-point lead in the final minute, but they missed two one-and-ones and three shots. We gave them plenty of chances, but they couldnÕt convert," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle.
The game ended up being a tight contest from beginning to end.
WL played its way to a 9-7 lead in the first quarter before H-BC rallied to gain a 22-21 edge at the intermission.
The Patriots outscored the Lions 14-10 in the third quarter to lead by five entering the final stanza, where turnovers and missed shots at the charity stripe (H-BC was two of 10 at the line for the game) kept WL in the contest.
"We made the game much harder than it had to be on two ends," Goehle said. "We didn't shoot free throws well at all, and we had 26 turnovers. We just didn't take care of the ball."
H-BC did make 45 percent of its field goals, which proved to be a factor in the game.
Becky Broesder led H-BC's balanced attack by scoring 12 points. Cassi Tilstra, Erin Boeve and Brittney Olson had 10 points each.
Boeve added nine rebounds and seven blocked shots to the winning cause, while Broesder chipped in eight rebounds and four steals. Jody Rentschler pulled down five rebounds for H-BC. Olson charted five assists.
Box score
B.Olson 5 0 0-0 10, Rentschler 0 1 0-2 3, Tilstra 5 0 0-0 10, Broesder 6 0 0-2 12, Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, DeNoble 0 0 0-0 0, Boeve 4 0 2-6 10.
Team statistics
H-BC: 21 of 47 field goals (45 percent), two of 10 free throws (20 percent), 39 rebounds, 26 turnovers.
WL: 15 of 60 field goals (25 percent), 10 of 15 free throws (67 percent), 35 rebounds, 25 turnovers.