Lady Indians knocked off by Lady Broncos

     Suffering through a tough first quarter, the Hillsboro Lady Indians continued to battle with improved quarters for the remainder of the game, but came up short as they were defeated by the Western Brown Lady Broncos 59-39 Tuesday night at Hillsboro High School.

     The win improves Western Brown to 7-0 overall, as the Lady Indians fall to 0-8.

     “I thought for the first time tonight the players we had on the floor played like a team,” Hillsboro head coach Herb Mihalik said. “We got the ball inside, everyone was helping out and the girls had each other’s back in this game.”

     HHS trailed 16-2 after the first quarter with the Lady Broncos stampeding to a 16-0 lead.

     Hillsboro scored their lone points with an inside bucket from senior Heather Storer with 29.3 seconds remaining in the opening eight minutes.

     With WB increasing their lead to 18-2 with a bucket from senior Lauren Davis, Storer went to the hoop again for the Lady Indians forcing a turnover and scoring the basket while being fouled. Storer made it a 3-point play with a converted free throw.

     Davis answered with a three-point play of her own, but HHS sank two free throws with junior A.J. Sanders producing from the free-throw line.

     Senior Megan Barnes followed with a 3-pointer for the Lady Indians, bringing HHS within 11 points of WB. The undefeated Lady Broncos rallied to net eight straight points to build a 29-12 advantage.

     The scoring run was stopped by Jenni Willey with 1:45 left in the first half.

     Paij Shelton also scored for the Lady Indians in the second quarter.

     Willey opened up the scoring in the second half with pressured inside points, and senior Shelby Coyle brought HHS within 16 points of the lead to make the score 36-20.

     Coyle then sank a jumper with 6:35 left in the third and Storer made four total free throws on back-to-back trips to the foul line, cutting the WB advantage to 38-26.

     Barnes made a long range jumper with 3:27 left in the quarter. Her points were answered with an 8-0 run by the Lady Broncos. Julie Shafer ended the run with points in the paint to bring HHS within 20 points of WB at 50-30.

     In the final quarter Barnes scored first with a converted free throw. After quick points by WB, Sanders and Storer each made one free throw.

     With 3:39 left in the game Barnes started what turned into a 6-0 run for the Lady Indians as Sanders and Storer each scored two points after Barnes’ basket. Storer’s points came from the free-throw line. Storer led HHS with 14 points, finishing 8 of 9 from the free-throw line. Barnes followed with eight points. Sanders ended the game with five.

     “Our post players played well,” Mihalik said. “Defensively Julie (Shafer) and (Paij) Shelton did a tremendous job. The girls played great post defense and Jenni (Willey) got a lot of rebounds for us.

     “We are asking Shelby (Coyle) to do more ball handling instead of shooting this season. She beat their press and got the ball where it needed to go.”

     Davis led all scorers with a game-high 19 points. Teammate Devin Latham gained 12 points in the WB win. Jeanette Cunningham scored nine for WB.

     HHS was 12 of 21 from the free-throw line. WB went 8 of 15.

     The Lady Indians will play again on Jan. 9, 2010 as they will travel to play Clinton-Massie at 1:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE

SCORE BY QUARTERS

WBHS – 16 17 19 7 – 59

HHS – 2 14 14 9 – 39

INDIVIDUAL STATS
WBHS (59)

L.Leist 1 2-2 4, C.Jackson-Wahl 2 4, D.Latham 2 (2) 2-5 12, L.Davis 7 (1) 2-2 19, M.Henry 1 2, M.Wright 3 0-2 6, K.Grrett 0 1-2 1, J.Cunningham 4 1-2 9, D.Ratcliff 3 6. TOTALS: 23 (3) 8-15 59.

HHS (39)

P.Shelton 1 2, S.Coyle 2 0-2 4, J.Shafer 1 2, H.Storer 3 8-9 14, M.Barnes 2 (1) 1-4 8, J.Willey 2 4, A.Sanders 1 3-4 5. TOTALS: 12 (1) 12-21 39.