Lady Indians end year in sectional final
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
KINNIKINNICK — Though the Hillsboro Lady Indians were unable to capture a sectional title Saturday afternoon, they did have their best season in many years, but it all came to an end in the Division II SE District sectional final, falling to the Miami Trace Lady Panthers, 66-40.
The loss at Zane Trace High School, to Miami Trace, was close after the first quarter, but from there on out, the Lady Panthers, a No. 1 seed, controlled the tempo until the final buzzer sounded, defeating HHS for the third time this season.
Though they were eliminated from the Division II SE District postseason, HHS saw vast improvement this season, winning nine times this year (9-15 overall), including an overtime win, consecutive wins, a tournament win for the first time in a decade and a few wins in the South Central Ohio League, something the Lady Indians haven't accomplished in recent seasons.
The No. 8 seeded Lady Indians say goodbye to seniors Taylor Moberly, Alex Stratton and Taylor Stanforth.
"I'm proud of the kids this year," Hillsboro head coach JR Moberly said. "They met adversity along the way and overcame it. They played their best basketball towards the end of the season, and I hate to see it come to an end.
"We are going to miss the three seniors leaving us. They did a lot of the little things that didn't show up in the stat column. All the little things they did we are going to miss, but all three of them are going to go to college and do great things. We were lucky to have them."
In their early afternoon game Saturday, HHS trailed 14-7 after the first quarter, including an 8-0 start by Miami Trace to start the game. HHS ended the final 4:14 of the first by outscoring MT, 7-6.
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By the time the second frame ended, the Lady Panthers took a 39-14 lead at halftime.
From there, MT led 55-26 after three quarters, and in the fourth, HHS won the final eight minutes 14-11, but the game was already well in hand by MT.
"The game was played a lot faster than we wanted it to be played," Moberly said. "We wanted to keep it in the 30s. We switched defenses, ran a lot of different looks and we couldn't find a way to stop them.
"The game was more physical than we wanted it to be."
In the opening quarter, following the 8-0 run by MT, Kaylynn Bell, Britney Bowen and Madison Snyder combined for the seven HHS points. Bell led HHS with a game-high 16 points, finishing 5-of-10 from the free-throw line.
MT opened the second frame with six straight points for a 21-7 lead and continued to dominate the second as they outscored HHS, 25-7 in the eight-minute span. The HHS seven points were by Bell, Kirsten Juillerat, Moberly and Snyder.
HHS scored 12 points in the third with Moberly opening the quarter with a free throw. The remaining third-quarter points were from Trista Rhodes (who totaled nine points) and Bell, as Bell scored seven points in the third, including a 3-pointer with 4:17 left on the clock.
The fourth was the Lady Indians' best quarter of the game as Faith Middleton, Rhodes, Bell and Juillerat combined for 14 points.
As for the victorious Lady Panthers, they were led in scoring by Deidre McKay with 15 points, Abby Schwenk with 13 and Josie Cobb with 12.
HHS finished 9-of-17 from the free-throw line, while MT ended the game at 9-of-12. HHS totaled 29 turnovers, while MT had 16.
The Lady Indians end their postseason at 1-1, as they defeated Waverly, 55-31.
MT will play in the district semifinals at Southeastern High School this coming week.
The loss at Zane Trace High School, to Miami Trace, was close after the first quarter, but from there on out, the Lady Panthers, a No. 1 seed, controlled the tempo until the final buzzer sounded, defeating HHS for the third time this season.
Though they were eliminated from the Division II SE District postseason, HHS saw vast improvement this season, winning nine times this year (9-15 overall), including an overtime win, consecutive wins, a tournament win for the first time in a decade and a few wins in the South Central Ohio League, something the Lady Indians haven't accomplished in recent seasons.
The No. 8 seeded Lady Indians say goodbye to seniors Taylor Moberly, Alex Stratton and Taylor Stanforth.
"I'm proud of the kids this year," Hillsboro head coach JR Moberly said. "They met adversity along the way and overcame it. They played their best basketball towards the end of the season, and I hate to see it come to an end.
"We are going to miss the three seniors leaving us. They did a lot of the little things that didn't show up in the stat column. All the little things they did we are going to miss, but all three of them are going to go to college and do great things. We were lucky to have them."
In their early afternoon game Saturday, HHS trailed 14-7 after the first quarter, including an 8-0 start by Miami Trace to start the game. HHS ended the final 4:14 of the first by outscoring MT, 7-6.
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By the time the second frame ended, the Lady Panthers took a 39-14 lead at halftime.
From there, MT led 55-26 after three quarters, and in the fourth, HHS won the final eight minutes 14-11, but the game was already well in hand by MT.
"The game was played a lot faster than we wanted it to be played," Moberly said. "We wanted to keep it in the 30s. We switched defenses, ran a lot of different looks and we couldn't find a way to stop them.
"The game was more physical than we wanted it to be."
In the opening quarter, following the 8-0 run by MT, Kaylynn Bell, Britney Bowen and Madison Snyder combined for the seven HHS points. Bell led HHS with a game-high 16 points, finishing 5-of-10 from the free-throw line.
MT opened the second frame with six straight points for a 21-7 lead and continued to dominate the second as they outscored HHS, 25-7 in the eight-minute span. The HHS seven points were by Bell, Kirsten Juillerat, Moberly and Snyder.
HHS scored 12 points in the third with Moberly opening the quarter with a free throw. The remaining third-quarter points were from Trista Rhodes (who totaled nine points) and Bell, as Bell scored seven points in the third, including a 3-pointer with 4:17 left on the clock.
The fourth was the Lady Indians' best quarter of the game as Faith Middleton, Rhodes, Bell and Juillerat combined for 14 points.
As for the victorious Lady Panthers, they were led in scoring by Deidre McKay with 15 points, Abby Schwenk with 13 and Josie Cobb with 12.
HHS finished 9-of-17 from the free-throw line, while MT ended the game at 9-of-12. HHS totaled 29 turnovers, while MT had 16.
The Lady Indians end their postseason at 1-1, as they defeated Waverly, 55-31.
MT will play in the district semifinals at Southeastern High School this coming week.