By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek girls advanced to the semifinal-round of the South Section 3A Basketball Tournament by nipping Red Rock Central 51-50 in a quarterfinal-round tilt played in Worthington Saturday.
With a strong effort on the defensive end of the court leading the way, H-BC was able to erase an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter and pull out the victory.
The way things turned out, the fifth-seeded Patriots produced the tournament lone upset in the quarterfinals by knocking off No. 4 RRC.
The win gave H-BC shot at No. 1 Adrian, a team the Patriots split games with during the regular season, Tuesday in Adrian. Look for the game story elsewhere in the sports section.
According to Patriot coach Tom Goehle, defense was the key to victory over the Falcons. H-BC forced RRC to turn the ball over 21 times in the game, giving the Patriots opportunities to come from behind late in the game.
"Our defensive intensity, especially in the second half, is what turned the tide. We forced them into 14 second-half turnovers. Our guards did an excellent job of pressuring RRC up front," he said.
H-BC appeared to be on the verge of elimination when a 36-29 deficit entering the fourth quarter was increased to eight points early in the period.
The Patriots, however, clawed their way back into the game by putting together a 13-4 run capped by a three-point shot from Cassi Tilstra with 4:43 left to play to take a 42-41 lead.
The teams exchanged leads over the next three minutes before Patriot Erin Boeve hit a field goal near the 1:00 mark of the period to give H-BC a 49-48 lead.
Tilstra and Boeve made one free throw each with 37 and 15 seconds remaining to make it a three-point difference, but RRC converted a field goal with six seconds left to make it a 51-50 game. RRC got the ball back with 3.3 seconds remaining, but the Falcons were unable to get off a potential game-winning shot before time expired.
With Boeve scoring six of her team-high 20 points and Tilstra adding five of her 16 counters to lead the way, H-BC opened a 17-10 cushion in the first quarter.
RRC, however, outscored the Patriots 15-2 in the second quarter to move in front 25-19 by halftime before increasing its lead to seven points (36-29) by the end of the third quarter.
Boeve led H-BC with 10 rebounds, while Tilstra set the pace with seven assists. Melinda Feucht chipped in four steals to the winning cause, and Sarah Rozeboom added four assists and three steals.
Box score
B.Rozeboom 0 0 1-2 1, Bush 1 0 0-0 2, Feucht 3 0 2-5 8, Sandstede 0 0 0-0 0, Tilstra 5 1 3-4 16, S.Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Boeve 6 0 8-10 20, Olson 1 0 0-0 2, Mulder 0 0 2-2 2.
Team statistics
H-BC: 16 of 41 field goals (39 percent), 16 of 23 free throws (70 percent), 32 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
RRC: 15 of 37 field goals (41 percent), 14 of 24 free throws (58 percent), 31 rebounds, 21 turnovers.
