By John Rittenhouse
A pair of girls’ basketball teams from the Star Herald coverage area opened the 2002-03 season in Hills Friday.
Ellsworth and Hills-Beaver Creek, two former members of the dissolved Tri-County Conference, locked horns in their only scheduled meeting of the year.
The game was tight for three quarters, but a great fourth-quarter start by the home-standing Patriots set the stage for a 46-28 victory.
Actually, H-BC put together extended runs in the beginning of the third and fourth quarters. Ellsworth was able to counter one of the runs, but not both of them.
H-BC led 15-14 at the intermission before starting the third quarter with an 8-1 surge featuring three field goals by Erin Boeve and another from Brittney Rozeboom to open a 23-15 cushion in the first four minutes of the second half.
A three-point shot by freshman Stacy Bush gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the game at 28-16 as the period progressed, but the Panthers closed the quarter with a 10-1 run featuring five points from Laurel Drenth to trail 29-25 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Ellsworth was in a position to catch the Patriots at that point. H-BC, however, didn’t let it happen.
An 11-0 run in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter put the Patriots in front 40-25. Ellsworth never got any closer than 12 points to H-BC the rest of the way before falling by 18 points in the end.
H-BC, which outscored EHS 17-3 in the final period, received seven points in the decisive 11-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Boeve scored 13 of her team-high 16 points in the second half.
The game’s first half was very tight.
A three-point shot by Ellsworth’s Jenna Groen opened the scoring, and the Panthers led 5-4 before Rozeboom converted a field goal and one free throw in the final 36 seconds of the first quarter to give H-BC a 7-5 edge.
The second quarter featured ties at seven, nine and 12 before Rozeboom hit a field goal and Amanda Olson added a free throw to give the Patriots a 15-12 edge that was sliced to one point (15-14) by period’s end with a field goal by Groen.
Boeve led the Patriots with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots in the game. Sarah Rozeboom had seven rebounds, Cassi Tilstra six steals and Brittney Rozeboom four assists for the winners.
Groen, who netted 12 points in the first half, finished with a game-high 17 counters. Janice Leuthold and Laurel Drenth collected 10 and eight rebounds respectively for EHS. Missy Leuthold charted four assists.
H-BC plays in Edgerton Friday before taking on Central Lyon in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Monday. Ellsworth plays in Edgerton Monday.
Box score
Ellsworth
Deutsch 0 0 0-0 0, Boltjes 0 0 2-5 2, M.Leuthold 0 0 0-0 0, Ly.Drenth 0 0 0-0 0, Lr.Drenth 3 0 1-1 7, J.Leuthold 0 0 2-2 2, M.Groen 0 0 0-0 0, J.Groen 3 3 2-3 17, Kramer 0 0 0-0 0, Timmer 0 0 0-0 0.
H-BC
B.Rozeboom 6 0 2-6 14, Bush 0 1 0-0 3, Feucht 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 2 0 0-2 4, S.Rozeboom 1 0 1-2 3, Hoyme 0 0 0-0 0, Boeve 5 1 3-7 16, Wassenaar 0 0 0-0 0, Olson 0 0 2-4 2, Mulder 2 0 0-0 4.
Team statistics
Ellsworth: nine of 48 field goals (19 percent), seven of 14 free throws (50 percent), 35 rebounds, 32 turnovers.
H-BC: 18 of 56 field goals (32 percent), eight of 21 free throws (38 percent), 40 rebounds, 10 turnovers.