By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek girls advanced to the championship game of the South Section 3A Basketball Tournament for the first time in six years when they defeated Adrian 56-53 in a semifinal-round clash played in Worthington Friday.Something had to give when the Patriots and Dragons squared off for a berth in the title game as both teams won regular season contests on the other’s home floor.In the end, it was Adrian’s five-year run of winning 20 or more games that came to an end as the Patriots prevailed by a 56-53 margin.The Patriots took a 16-10 record into their first postseason championship game it played in since 1998 Tuesday night at Southwest State University in Marshall. Third-seeded H-BC played No. 1 Fulda in the title tilt. Look for a game story on the championship game on the front page of the sports section.H-BC played hard and well to knock off the second-seeded Dragons, who finished the year with a 19-6 record, Friday in Worthington High School.Adrian led 3-2 early when H-BC scored seven straight points to move in front 9-3 when Cassi Tilstra sank a three-point shot at the 3:08 mark of the first quarter.The Dragons battled back to tie the game at nine when Maria Gengler converted a field goal with 1:33 left in the period, but H-BC countered with a 6-0 run capped by Melinda Sandstede’s field goal with 29 seconds remaining to make it a six-point game. H-BC settled for a 15-11 lead at period’s end.A three-point shot by H-BC’s Stacy Bush gave the Patriots a seven-point (18-11) cushion that was washed away by a 7-0 run by Adrian. The run ended with a three-point play by Andrea Lonneman at the 4:56 mark of the second quarter that tied the game at 18.Kylie Heronimus gave the Dragons a 25-22 lead with a field goal as the second period progressed, but a 4-0 spurt capped by a field goal from H-BC’s Erin Boeve with 13 seconds left gave the Patriots a 26-25 edge at the intermission.Gengler gave the Dragons their last lead of the game (27-26) when she opened scoring in the third quarter. H-BC’s Kerri Fransman proceeded to hit a pair of three-point shots that spurred a 10-2 surge that gave the Patriots a 36-29 lead with 5:15 left in the stanza.Adrian trimmed the difference to three points (36-33) when Amber Loosbrock hit a field goal with 3:31 left in the third quarter, and the difference remained three points (40-37) at period’s end.H-BC opened the fourth quarter with a 9-2 run that ended with Boeve sinking two free throws at the 5:15 mark of the stanza that gave the Patriots their biggest lead of the game at 49-39.Adrian battled back and trailed by two points (53-51) when Lonneman drained a pair of charity shots with 23.2 seconds remaining.Tilstra sank two free throws for H-BC with 21.5 seconds left to make it 55-51, but the Dragons closed the margin to two points (55-53) when Heronimus made a shot with 1.3 seconds left. Tilstra then sank a free throw to end the scoring in the game.Boeve led the Patriots with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tilstra added 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals to the winning cause. Fransman chipped in 11 points.Lonneman, who had seven rebounds, led AHS with 17 points. Gengler finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Heronimus and Sarah Kruger charted 10 and five assists respectively.Box scoreH-BCRozeboom 3 0 0-0 6, Fransman 0 3 2-2 11, Bush 0 1 0-0 3, Sandstede 1 0 0-0 2, Tilstra 3 1 5-7 14, Boeve 7 0 6-11 20, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 0 0 0-0 0.AdrianHenning 1 0 0-0 2, Heronimus 3 1 0-0 9, Kruger 2 0 0-0 4, Cox 3 0 0-0 6, Lonneman 6 0 5-5 17, Gengler 6 0 1-3 13, Loosbrock 1 0 0-0 2.Team statisticsH-BC: 19 of 50 field goals (38 percent), 13 of 20 free throws (65 percent), 25 rebounds, 10 turnovers.Adrian: 23 of 44 field goals (52 percent), six of nine free throws (67 percent), 35 rebounds, 17 turnovers.
