BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
LARNED—Midway of the third, and decisive, third quarter, the Hillsboro girls broke away from a close game with Larned and went on to a 35-28 win Friday in a Central Kansas League basketball game.
Larned led after the first quarter 10-8 and the two teams battled to a 16-16 halftime tie as both ball clubs struggled for points. Hillsboro stayed in the game at the free throw line as they canned 5 of 10 in the first half as Larned made only 1 of 6.
“We struggled to score tonight,” said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. “We put in a new offense over the Christmas break and I was pleased with the way we ran it but not with the way we shot the ball and we made way too many turnovers, especially when trying to force the ball into the post players.”
Larned turned the ball over 25 times to just 16 for the Trojans. That and the free throw disparity led Hillsboro to the victory. The Lady Trojans made 10 of 18 free throws while Larned made only 2 of 6.
“Turnovers and the difference at the free throw line hurt us,” said Crosby.
The game was still close entering the fourth quarter as Hillsboro held a 26-22 lead but with 4:50 remaining in the game , freshman Teegan Werth canned a 3--pointer to boost the lead to seven points and the Trojans used free throws to hold off Larned going down the stretch.
Hillsboro was led in scoring by Werth’s 10 points while Sienna Kaufman added 8 and Abby Sechrist 7. The Trojans shot 11 of 35 from the field as they improved their record to 5-3 on the season, 1-1 in the CKL.
Larned was led in scoring by Katie Fischer and Brooke Butler with eight points apiece while Alyssa Clark added six points. The Indians (1-5, 0-1 CKL) travel to Haven Tuesday for a CKL game.
Hillsboro 8 8 10 9 – 35
Larned 10 6 6 6 – 28
HILLSBORO—Werth 2 4-4 10, Sechrist 3 1-2 7, Kaufman 3 4-6 8, Franz 1 0-0 3, Kleiner 2 0-0 5, Malm 0 2-6 2, Totals 10 10-18 35.
LARNED—Fischer 4 0-2 8, Butler 3 1-2 8, Sanger 1 0-0 2, Clark 3 0-0 6, Perez 1 0-0 3, Nesby 0 2-2 2, Totals 12 2-6 28.
HILLSBORO BOYS 71, LARNED 49
LARNED—In a game of scoring spurts by both teams, Hillsboro spurted more and longer as they handed Larned a 71-49 Central Kansas League loss Friday.
Larned (4-3, 0-1 CKL) travels to Haven Tuesday for a Central Kansas League game. Hillsboro (7-1, 2-0 CKL) is tied with Hesston for first place.
Hillsboro raced out to a 13-3 first quarter lead only to have Larned rally and trail just 17-11 after one quarter. Larned made eight first-quarter turnovers.
Larned’s second quarter spurt enabled the Indians to lead 29-28 but 9 straight Hillsboro points closed out the second quarter and the Trojans grabbed a 37-29 halftime advantage.
Larned coach Jerrod Smith bemoaned Larned’s turnovers.
“Our turnovers led directly to easy baskets for them,” Smith said. “They were more aggressive than we were and we got impatient with our shot selection.”
The first five minutes of the third quarter were pivotal as Hillsboro came out of the dressing room firing on all cylinders as they quickly moved to a double digit lead behind balanced scoring and an aggressive, ball-hawking defense that led to 19 Larned turnovers in the game. By the end of the third quarter the Trojans had built a 16-point lead (51-35).
The Indians scored 20 second half points while Hillsboro totaled 34 behind numerous easy baskets off turnovers.
Hillsboro was led in scoring by Elias Werth with 18 points. Wes Shaw added 14, Darian Ratzlaff 13 and Caleb Potucek 11 in the balanced Trojan attack as they converted 24 of 44 field goals and were 12 of 16 from the charity stripe.
Larned converted only 17 of 44 field goal attempts and 7 of 13 free throws. They were led in scoring by Chance Sanger with 15, Keenan Castro with 10 while Brock Skelton and Thomas Harmon contributed seven apiece.
Hillsboro 17 20 14 20 – 71
Larned 11 18 6 14 – 49
HILLSBORO—Werth 7 3-3 18, Shaw 7 0-0 14, Ratzlaff 4 4-6 13, Potucek 4 2-2 11, Rathbine 1 0-0 2, Ollenburger 1 2-2 4, Caleb Rempel 1 0-0 2, Gardner 3 1-1 7, Totals 28 12-14 71.
LARNED—Sanger 6 0-1 15, Perez 0 1-2 1, Sanger 1 0-0 2, Skelton 3 0-2 7, Harmon 2 3-4 7, Cadstro 3 3-3 10, Barger 1 0-0 2, Fletcher 1 0-1 2, Rupp 1 0-0 3, Totals 18 7-13 49.
