By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek opened the South Section 3A Girls' Basketball Tournament by coasting to a 56-27 victory over Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Hills Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Patriots dominated play throughout the contest, earning a shot at No. 2 Southwest Christian in the tournament's quarterfinals (see related story elsewhere in the sports section).
SV-RL-B, which entered the tournament as the 10th seed, couldnÕt answer an early H-BC challenge that set the tone for the game.
H-BC scored the game's first six points and led by 11 ponts three times in the first quarter before Jody DeNoble drained a field goal with 31 seconds left to make it a 20-7 difference at the break.
Things didn't get any better for the Raiders in the second quarter, when H-BC went on a 15-4 scoring run to open a 35-11 halftime lead.
Senior Shanna Tilstra, who led H-BC with 19 points and four assists, helped the Patriots build a 24-point halftime cushion by scoring seven points in both the first and second stanzas.
H-BC iced the game by outscoring SV-RL-B 13-8 in the third quarter to make it a 29-point (48-19) difference.
Both teams scored eight points in the fourth quarter.
H-BC, which was aided by 26 turnovers by the Raiders, received 10 points and nine rebounds from Erin Boeve. LaDonna Sandstede contributed four steals to the cause for the 11-12 Patriots.
Box score
C.Tilstra 1 0 0-0 2, Olson 0 0 2-3 2, Sandstede 2 0 3-4 7, Rentschler 0 0 0-2 0, S.Tilstra 3 3 4-5 19, Broesder 3 0 0-0 6, DeNoble 2 0 0-0 4, Boeve 4 0 2-2 10, DeHaan 0 0 0-0 0, Arp 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 21 of 64 field goals (33 percent), 11 of 15 free throws (73 percent), 33 rebounds, 14 turnovers.
SV-RL-B: 10 of 44 field goals (23 percent), seven of 15 free throws (47 percent), 27 rebounds, 26 turnovers.