Hillsboro’s Lady Indians hosted the McClain Lady Tigers on Saturday at Hillsboro High School for the first of their two Frontier Athletic Conference and cross-county rivalry games. The Lady Tigers turned up the pressure on Hillsboro and came away with a resounding 62-36 win.
The Lady Indians opened the game with three straight points when Karleigh Hopkins recorded a field goal and Josie Hopkins hit one of two at the stripe to give Hillsboro an early 3-0 lead.
McClain’s Lady Tigers had seen enough however, and held the Lady Indians scoreless for the remainder of the first quarter as they rattled off 12 straight points to take a 12-3 lead into the second quarter.
Bryn Karnes got things going for McClain with back to back field goals that gave McClain the lead, Emma Stegbauer followed with a field goal of her own but missed the and one free throw.
Kyla Burchett added four points and Bri Weller had two to help the Lady Tigers establish the lead.
“I think my kids are really good at keeping their composure on starts like that,” said Lady Tigers’ Head Coach Jarrod Haines. “We just had to get a few baskets to drop in, a few defensive stops and we came up big.”
“I thought Bryn Karnes, in the middle she has been huge for us defensively,” said Haines. “Kyla Burchett, offensively had a heck of a day. Which she is very capable of doing and she made it really hard for Hillsboro to guard her.”
Hillsboro found a modicum of success offensively in the second quarter as they tallied 14 points in the frame.
McKenzie Cosby, Gracie Dean, Kayden Watson, J. Hopkins and Lana Grover each had two points in the quarter while Jordan Moberly accounted for the final four points.
However, the offensive success did not translate to the defensive end of the floor for Hillsboro as they allowed McClain to put up 21 in the second and extend their lead to 33-17 at halftime.
Burchett led the Lady Tigers with 10 points in the second quarter including one triple.
Cierra Bolender, Kelli Uhrig, Liz Kegley, Karnes and Stegnbauer each had two points in the second quarter and Weller added one point of her own.
The teams traded baskets to start the third quarter and the scoreboard read 37-23 in favor of the Lady Tigers before McClain reeled off 10 consecutive points and essentially sealed the victory for the Lady Tigers with with 2:29 to play in the third quarter.
McClain took a 54-28 lead into the fourth quarter and each team scored eight points in the final frame to provide the final 62-36 score.
Score by quarters
HHS 3-14-11-8
MHS 12-21-21-8
Hillsboro: Cosby 1-2; Dean 2-4; Watson 2-4; J. Hopkins 1-4/8-6; Grover 5/6-5; K. Hopkins 1-2/2-4; Jor. Moberly 2-2/4-6; Jad. Moberly 2-4; Edenfield 1/2-1
Totals: 11-14/22-36
McClain: Bolender 1-2; Weller 3-1/2-7; Pitzer 3(2)-12; Uhrig 2/2-2; Burchett 5(2)-3/4-19; Karnes 6-12; Kegley 1-2; Stegbauer 3-0/1-6
Totals: 22(4)-6/9-62
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.