By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls were unable to start the basketball season with three straight wins when they squared off against Central Lyon in Hills Saturday.
In a foul-filled game that resulted in the teams shooting a combined 68 free throws, the visiting Lions put an end to H-BCÕs two-game winning streak by toppling the Patriots 42-36.
A poor shooting night led to H-BCÕs impending doom.
The Patriots made 20 percent (nine of 46) of their field goals in the game, and that fact was overshadowed by 43-percent shooting (16 of 37) from the charity stripe.
CL scored the game's first five points and H-BC was never able to get any closer than three points before the first period came to an end with the visitors sporting a 14-8 lead.
A 10-3 surge capped by two free throws from Becky Broesder gave the Patriots a brief 18-17 edge with 1:05 remaining in the first half, but the Lions tied the game at 18 by halftime.
CL outscored the Patriots 11-2 in the first 4:00 of the third quarter to gain a 29-20 lead it would never relinquish.
H-BC trailed by five points (31-26) when Jody Rentschler converted a field goal with 36 seconds left in the third quarter and faced a four-point (40-36) deficit when Brittney Olson drained a free throw with 18 seconds left in the game, but that was close as the Patriots would come to catching the Lions.
Erin Boeve had an 18-rebound, nine-point, five-steal performance for H-BC. Becky Broesder added nine rebounds and four assists.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 1 0, 0-2 2, B.Olson 1 0 2-3 4, Feucht 0 0 0-0 0, Rentschler 2 0 0-2 4, Tilstra 3 0 0-4 6, Broesder 0 0 3-8 3, S.Rozeboom 1 0 4-4 6, DeNoble 0 0 2-6 2, Boeve 2 0 5-8 9, A.Olson 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: nine of 46 field goals (20 percent), 16 of 37 free throws (43 percent), 40 rebounds, 18 turnovers.
CL: 12 of 44 field goals (27 percent), 17 of 31 free throws (55 percent), 34 rebounds, 19 turnovers.