By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team remained two games above the .500 mark for the season after splitting a pair of tests since Saturday.
The Patriots dropped an 11-point Red Rock Conference decision to Red Rock Central in Lamberton Saturday before upending Pipestone by three points in Hills Tuesday.
H-BC, 10-8 overall and 6-5 in the league, hosts Edgerton tonight.
H-BC 45, Pipestone 42
The Patriots used a strong second half to best the Arrows by three points in Hills Tuesday.
Trailing 16-15 at the intermission, H-BC came out in the second half and outscored the Arrows 30-26 to secure a non-conference win.
Considering the Patriots won the game with leader Erin Boeve sitting on the bench most of the first half, the victory was a special one.
"It was a battle," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "We’ll take a win any time when Erin is sitting on the bench for 13 minutes in the first half. The other girls did a good job of defending Pipestone, and they did a good job of taking care of the ball offensively."
The teams battled to a draw at 11 in the first quarter before Pipestone gained a one-point halftime cushion.
H-BC played a strong third quarter that featured a 32-24 lead at one stage of the period before settling for a 32-28 advantage at period’s end. Pipestone’s 14-13 scoring edge in the fourth quarter made the difference 13 points at game’s end.
Cassi Tilstra and Melinda Feucht netted 13 and 12 points respectively for H-BC.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 2 0 2-3 6, Feucht 5 0 2-3 12, Tilstra 5 1 0-3 13, S.Rozeboom 3 0 1-6 7, Broesder 3 0 1-4 7, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 0 0 0-0 0, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 19 of 45 field goals (42 percent), six of 19 free throws (42 percent), 18 of 45 field goals (40 percent), six of 11 free throws (55 percent).
RRC 59, H-BC 48
The Patriots fell behind early and couldn’t recover when they traveled to Lamberton for a Red Rock Conference tilt against the Falcons Saturday.
Red Rock Central controlled play in the first half while opening a nine-point advantage, and the Falcons answered every challenge H-BC offered in the second half to post an 11-point win in the end.
"We just fell a little too far behind early and couldn’t get back into the game," said Patriot coach Goehle. "RRC deserves some credit because they shot the ball really well."
The Falcons raced to a 17-9 lead in the first eight minutes of play before using a 14-13 scoring edge in the second quarter to sport a 31-22 halftime lead.
H-BC pulled within six points of the Falcons in the third quarter before the hosts used a late surge to open a 43-29 advantage at period’s end.
The Patriots trimmed the difference to eight points with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before falling by 11 at game’s end.
Boeve, who had five blocked shots for H-BC, registered a double-double with 22 points and 18 rebounds.
Tilstra scored 16 points and recorded eight assists for the Patriots. Brittney Rozeboom contributed four assists.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Feucht 3 0 1-2 7, Tilstra 5 1 3-4 16, S.Rozeboom 1 0 1-2 3, Boeve 8 0 6-10 22, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 18 of 43 field goals (42 percent), 11 of 20 free throws (55 percent), 37 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
RRC: 21 of 55 field goals (38 percent), 13 of 18 free throws (72 percent), 50 rebounds, 18 turnovers.