Hillsboro Lady Indians are FAC co-champions; first conference title since ’01

The Hillsboro Lady Indians clinched a share of the 2025-26 Frontier Athletic Conference championship on Thursday night by defeating the host Jackson Ironladies, 39-27 at Jackson High School, a championship that was 25 years in the making. 

The conference championship is shared with their Highland County rival, the McClain Lady Tigers, who clinched their share of the FAC crown last week following a win against the Miami Trace Lady Panthers. 

Hillsboro and McClain each finished the FAC season as co-champions at 9-1 as they defeated each other once this season. McClain’s share of the conference championship made them back-to-back champions in the FAC. 

The conference crown for the Lady Indians (14-8) — who are coached by Heather Storer —  is their first conference championship in girls basketball since 2001. This is their sixth girls basketball conference championship in program history with their past championships won in 1976, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 as members of the now-defunct South Central Ohio League (SCOL) and the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference (SBAAC). 

The final FAC standings for the 2025-26 season are Hillsboro and McClain each at 9-1 for first place, followed by Miami Trace (5-5), Washington (4-6), Jackson (3-7) and Chillicothe (0-10).  

HHS trailed 2-0 early in the game but then scored 11 straight points with a 3-pointer from Kobie Miles, followed by consecutive baskets by Tylee Davis and a layup from Ella Jordan for a 9-2 lead, forcing Jackson to call a timeout with 2:25 left in the first quarter. Davis finished the game with 12 points, Miles ended the game with nine points and Jordan totaled six points in the win. 

The run continued for the 11th consecutive point as Piper Wilkin — who totaled four points for HHS — grabbed a rebound and went the length of the court for a basket while being fouled with 29 seconds left in the first. 

Hillsboro ended the first quarter with the 11-2 advantage, a nine-point lead, as they gained 11 rebounds in the first frame, seven offensive as the Lady Indians’ offensive rebounding became a theme of the game for HHS in leading to the conference victory. 

The run kept going in the second quarter with Miles scoring the first points of the frame for a 13-2 lead, giving the Lady Indians a 13-0 run from the 6:00 mark of the first to the 7:10 mark of the second. JHS broke the run with a jumper connecting through the hoop by Lexi Hughes with 6:50 on the clock. 

HHS responded with two free throws by Davis for a 15-4 lead, leaving 6:11 remaining in the first half. Jackson wasn’t finished, though, responding themselves with a free throw, then a 3-pointer by Lauryn Walburn, followed by a jumper by Sydney Carpenter and two free throws by Lillian Mapes for a 15-12 deficit, cutting Hillsboro’s lead to three points. 

The three-point lead dropped to one point following a drive to the basket by Mapes with 3:40, giving them a 9-0 run for a 15-14 score with Hillsboro’s lead going from 11 points to a single point. 

Hillsboro increased their lead back to five points with baskets by Annia Young (who finished with eight points) and Wilkin (with the fastbreak assist by Davis) for a 19-14 advantage with 1:27 left in the second, as that score stood when halftime arrived as JHS kept possession of the ball for the remainder of the first half. 

Carpenter answered for JHS by sinking a 3-pointer, then later a free throw and another 3-pointer. Hillsboro had a basket by Young in that span, leaving HHS ahead by just two points at 23-21 with 5:10 left in the third, forcing HHS to call a timeout. 

Each time the Ironladies got to within a couple points of tying the score, the Lady Indians responded, and this time it was baskets by Young (off a full-court pass by Davis), and a layup by Miles (with the assist by Jordan) for a six-point HHS lead at 27-21 at the 3:50 mark of the third frame.  

Hillsboro ended the third with what became a 10-0 run as they added six more points in the final 2:08 of the quarter with two free throws made by Davis, a put-back basket by Young and two free throws converted by Miles for a 33-21 score to end the third quarter. 

Hillsboro’s 10-point run to end the third turned into a 14-point run with a put-back basket by Davis and two free throws made by Jordan. 

Jackson (8-14) broke the 14-0 run and their scoring drought as they went from the 5:10 mark of the third to the 4:06 mark of the fourth in between points scored with Jaylynn Montgomery making two free throws for a 37-23 score. 

The fourth quarter and game ended with Hughes and Carpenter scoring the final points for Jackson, and Jordan sinking a jumper for the Lady Indians for the final 39-27 score. 

JHS was led by Carpenter with 11 points, followed by Mapes with six points and Hughes with four points. The rest of Jackson’s final scoring was Montgomery (2), Walburn (3) and Lakyn Saunders (2). 

This season Hillsboro’s FAC scores included: at Miami Trace (51-22), at Chillicothe (79-29), at Washington (55-29), vs. Jackson (64-35), at McClain (39-44), vs. Miami Trace (46-45), vs. Chillicothe (65-18), vs. Washington (49-46), vs. McClain (53-48) and at Jackson (39-27). 

HHS in 10 FAC games has averaged 54.0 points per game, and they’ve allowed 34.3 ppg.

In the JV game, the Lady Indians defeated the Ironladies, 23-13 in the two-quarter game at JHS. Parker Wilkin led HHS JV with seven points, followed by Kylee-Ann Scruggs with six points. Neveah Blair finished with five points, Taylor-Ann Scruggs totaled three points and Zoey Page scored two points for the HHS JV team. 

Next for Hillsboro’s varsity team is their Division IV tournament opener, as they are scheduled to host Warren on Thursday, Feb. 19 at home with a 7 p.m. start at Hillsboro High School. 

BOX SCORE
HHS    11 08 14 06 — 39 
JHS    02 12 07 06 — 27

HILLSBORO (39) — E.Jordan 2 (0) 2-4 6, K.Miles 2 (1) 2-2 9, T.Davis 4 (0) 4-5 12, Pi.Wilkin 2 (0) 0-1 4, A.Young 4 (0) 0-3 8. TOTALS: 14 (1) 8-15 39. 

JACKSON (27) — L.Mapes 2 (0) 2-2 6, S.Carpenter 1 (2) 3-6 11, L.Hughes 2 (0) 0-0 4, J.Montgomery 0 (0) 2-2 2, L.Walburn 0 (1) 0-0 3, L.Saunders 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 5 (3) 8-12 27.