By John Rittenhouse
A bid by the Hills-Beaver Creek girls’ basketball team to record back-to-back victories in 2003 ended with a 65-32 loss in Worthington Saturday.
Two nights after beating Southwest Star Concept in Hills, the Patriots were gunning for an even bigger trophy when they took on the undefeated Trojans on their home floor.
Worthington, however, played an outstanding defensive game while forcing the Patriots to 26 turnovers and limiting the visitors to 30-percent shooting from the floor.
Unable to get anything going offensively against Worthington’s man-to-man defense, H-BC was outscored by 38 points in the first three quarters before falling by 33 points at game’s end.
"We struggled against their pressure," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "We have not faced that type of pressure this year, and we had a hard time adjusting to it."
The Trojans stormed to a 19-9 lead in the first quarter before putting the game away by outscoring the Patriots 37-9 in the second and third periods.
Worthington led 38-15 after outscoring the Patriots 19-6 in the second period. An 18-3 advantage in the third quarter made it a 56-18 game.
H-BC did sport a 14-9 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, but the game had been decided at that point.
Cassi Tilstra led H-BC with seven points and three steals in the contest.
Erin Boeve and Amanda Olson grabbed 10 and seven rebounds respectively. Brittney Rozeboom chipped in four steals.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 0 0 2-6 2, Bush 0 1 1-2 4, Feucht 1 0 1-4 3, Sandstede 1 0 0-0 2, Tilstra 2 1 0-0 7, S.Rozeboom 0 0 1-3 1, Boeve 1 0 4-4 6, Olson 0 0 3-4 3, Mulder 2 0 0-0 4.
Team statistics
H-BC: nine of 30 field goals (30 percent), 12 of 23 free throws (52 percent), 33 rebounds, 26 turnovers.
Worthington: 25 of 61 field goals (41 percent), 11 of 20 free throws (55 percent), 36 rebounds, 18 turnovers.