By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls' basketball team opened the 2002 portion of its schedule by posting a trilling 44-42 win over Southwest Star Concept in Okabena Thursday.
Trailing 39-30 with 4:30 left to play, the Patriots needed a big rally down the stretch to pull out a win and got one.
H-BC, which outscored the Quasars 16-10 for the period, went on a 14-3 run in the second half of the fourth quarter to post a two-point win.
The rally came against an SSC team that made 63 percent of its field goals in the game.
"It wasn't a pretty game for us by any means, but we survived a night in which they shot the ball really well," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle.
"We hung around and were able to pick it up a notch when we had to in the fourth quarter. It always doesn't work out that way."
Erin Boeve and Becky Broesder, who led the Patriots with 16 and 10 points respectively, came up big down the stretch.
Boeve capped a 10-point second half with a field goal that gave the Patriots a 43-42 lead. Broesder added a free throw in the final minute to make it a two-point difference in the end.
SSC led 7-6 after eight minutes of play before boasting four-point advantages (22-18 and 32-28) at the next two quarter breaks.
Boeve had 10 rebounds and seven steals to go along with her 16 points.
Cassi Tilstra added four assists and four steals to the winning cause.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 2 1 0-0 7, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Rentschler 2 0 1-2 5, Tilstra 1 0 0-0 2, Broesder 4 0 2-4 10, S.Rozeboom 1 0 0-0 2, DeNoble 0 0 2-2 2, Boeve 7 0 2-4 16.
Team statistics
H-BC: 18 of 57 field goals (32 percent), seven of 12 free throws (58 percent), 33 rebounds, 10 turnovers.
SSC: 17 of 27 field goals (63 percent), seven of 16 free throws (44 percent), 33 rebounds, 26 turnovers.