By John Rittenhouse
A free throw by Jody Rentschler with 2.5 seconds remaining in the game gave the Hills-Beaver Creek girls' basketball team a season-opening 33-32 win over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Tyler Monday.
Rentschler, a 5-7 sophomore guard, came up with the biggest play of the game during the first varsity contest she played in.
R-T-R, which sported leads at the first three quarter breaks, found itself trailing 32-30 after H-BC outscored the Knights 8-2 in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Knights tied the game at 32 with 1:45 remaining, and H-BC then opted to hold the ball in an attempt for a game-winning shot in the final seconds.
Rentschler came up with an offensive rebound and was fouled in the act of shooting with 2.5 seconds left to play, when she made one of two free throws to give her team the margin of victory.
R-T-R sported 10-9, 20-15 and 28-24 leads at the first three quarter breaks, but the Patriots made seven of nine free throws while outscoring the hosts 9-4 in the final eight minutes of play to pull out their victory.
"Any time you can win a game, no matter how you win it, you're happy as a coach. Our girls played really hard, and they played excellent defense," said Patriot mentor Tom Goehle.
Becky Broesder led H-BC's fourth-quarter charge by scoring five of her team-high 13 points in the period.
Jamie Arp had eight rebounds, Erin Boeve three blocked shots, Shanna Tilstra three steals and Broesder three steals for the Patriots.
H-BC plays in Bigelow tonight and in Rock Rapids, Iowa, Saturday before hosting Pipestone-Jasper Monday.
Box score
C.Tilstra 0 0 0-0 0, Olson 1 0 1-2 3, Sandstede 0 0 1-3 1, Rentschler 1 0 3-4 5, S.Tilstra 1 0 2-2 4, Broesder 4 0 5-7 13, Boeve 1 0 3-6 5, Arp 1 0 0-0 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: nine of 32 field goals (28 percent), 15 of 24 free throws (63 percent), 26 rebounds, 19 turnovers.
R-T-R: 11 of 51 field goals (22 percent), 10 of 15 free throws (67 percent), 35 rebounds, 16 turnovers.