Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore guard Stacy Bush drives past Fulda’s Susan Grandgeorge during Tuesday’s South Section 3A championship game at Southwest State University in Marshall. Bush hit a pair of three-point shots in the first quarter to help the Patriots stun the Raiders 46-34.By John RittenhouseThe Hills Beaver Creek girls earned a right to play for a berth in the state tournament after winning the South Section 3A Girls Basketball championship Tuesday at Southwest State University in Marshall.The fourth-seeded Patriots matched up against No. 1 Fulda, a team H-BC lost to twice in the regular season, in the title tilt.Instead of playing scared, a young H-BC squad with one starting senior dictated the tempo of the game the entire night on the way to a 46-34 victory over the Raiders.The win was H-BC’s fifth straight, and it gave the Patriots their first postseason tournament title since 1991. H-BC, 17-10 overall, will play for its first berth in a state tournament when they take on Wabasso at 8 p.m. Friday in the Section 3A championship game at SSU.Fulda entered Tuesday’s game as the two-time defending South Section 3A champions, but the Raiders were never able to get anything going against the Patriots.H-BC never trailed during the course of the game, and the Patriots iced the contest with a crucial nine-point run in the fourth quarter.Fulda used a 5-2 surge to trim what was a four-point H-BC lead to one point (29-28) in the final minutes of the third quarter.The Patriots, however, scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter and led 38-28 when Erin Boeve sank a free throw with 4:16 left to play.Fulda scored the next four points to trail 38-32, but H-BC made eight free throws in the final three minutes of the game while building a 14-point lead (46-32) at one stage of the period before settling for a 12-point victory.The game was tied at two early in the first quarter when H-BC went on a 5-0 run capped by a three-point play from Boeve to open a 7-2 cushion.Stacy Bush hit a pair of three-point shots, the last one coming with 12 seconds left in the first period, to help the Patriots extend their cushion to seven points at 15-8.Both teams went cold in the second quarter, when the squads scored a combined seven points. The Raiders sported a 5-2 scoring edge in the quarter and trailed 17-13 at the intermission.The Raiders rallied to tie the game at 19 1:35 into the third quarter, and Fulda erased a 23-19 deficit to knot the score at 23 as the period progressed. A pair of field goals from Cassi Tilstra gave the Patriots a 27-23 lead with 3:23 remaining in the third period, but Fulda’s late 5-2 surge made it a 29-28 game at period’s end.Boeve recorded a double-double for the winners by scoring 16 points and nabbing 12 rebounds. She also blocked two shots.Tilstra added 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals to the winning cause.Box scoreRozeboom 0 0 2-2 2, Fransman 0 1 2-2 5, Bush 0 2 1-2 7, Tilstra 5 0 2-4 12, Boeve 4 0 8-11 16, Olson 0 0 0-0 0, Mulder 2 0 0-0 4.Team statisticsH-BC: 14 of 36 field goals (39 percent), 15 of 21 free throws (71 percent), 28 rebounds, six turnovers.Fulda: 15 of 49 field goals (31 percent), two of seven free throws (29 percent), 26 rebounds 11 turnovers.
