Hills-Beaver Creek post Erin Boeve puts up a shot in traffic during Tuesday's Section 3A semifinal game against Fulda in Worthingon.
By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls were eliminated from the South Section 3A Basketball Tournament Tuesday night in Worthington.
The third-seeded Patriots challenged No. 2 Fulda in a semifinal-round clash.
Like the prior two meetings between the teams this year, Fulda proved to have a little more firepower than the Patriots as it upended H-BC 47-39.
The win sends Fulda to Friday's championship game in Worthington, where it will take on No. 4 Red Rock Central at 7:30 p.m. H-BCÕs 13-12 season is complete.
Tuesday's game featured three strong quarters of play by the Patriots and one rough one.
Unfortunately, being outscored 14-2 in the third period proved to be too much for H-BC to overcome in this contest.
"Take away the third quarter, and this was a really good game for us," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "As it was, we still played a pretty good game."
The third quarter did prove to be H-BC's undoing.
Fulda led 23-19 at halftime before putting up 14 unanswered points in the first seven minutes of the third quarter. The run ended when H-BC's Erin Boeve banked home an offensive rebound with one second remaining in the period, but the damage already had been done as Fulda opened a 37-21 lead.
The Patriots did go on an 18-8 run during the fourth quarter that was capped by a three-point shot from Cassi Tilstra with 24 seconds remaining in the game to make it a 45-39 difference. Fulda, however, drained two free throws in the final 20 seconds to ice their third straight win over the Patriots this season.
The game's first half was a tight one.
Fulda snapped a deadlock at four with a 5-0 run to open a 9-4 lead. One free throw by Boeve and two more from Sarah Rozeboom brought the Patriots within two points (9-7) of the Raiders, and the first period ended with Fulda clinging to an 11-9 edge.
After Fulda scored the first three points of the second quarter, H-BC went on an 8-0 run that ended with Becky Broesder connecting for a field goal at 2:57 to give the Patriots a 17-14 lead.
Another field goal by Broesder after a Fulda surge tied the game at 19, but the Raiders scored the final four points of the first half to gain a 23-19 advantage.
Goehle credited FuldaÕs defensive effort as being one of the key factors in the game.
"They defended us well. They pushed us outside a lot further than we liked, and they did a good job of bottling up Erin," he said.
Boeve led the Patriots with five rebounds and four blocked shots.
Tilstra paced H-BC with 14 points, four assists and three steals.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 1 0 0-0 2, B.Olson 1 0 0-0 2, Rentschler 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 4 2 0-0 14, Broesder 4 0 0-0 8, S.Rozeboom 0 0 2-2 2, DeNoble 1 0 0-1 2, Boeve 4 0 1-2 9.
Team statistics
H-BC: 17 of 56 field goals (30 percent), three of five free throws (60 percent), 17 rebounds, six turnovers.
Fulda: 17 of 47 field goals (36 percent), 13 of 16 free throws (81 percent), 31 rebounds, eight turnovers.