By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

The Hesston substate bracket couldn’t have been less kind to the Hillsboro girls, sending them to Sterling to face the state-ranked Black Bears, a team that beat the Trojans by 40 points just last week.

The Trojans didn’t have the firepower to pull off an upset Monday, but rebounded from a slow start to acquit themselves well in a 64-48 season-ending loss.

First quarters have been hit and miss for the Trojans in recent games, and against Sterling, it was mostly miss. Hillsboro hit only one shot from the field as Sterling raced to a 14-4 lead.

The Black Bears led by as many as 14 before the Trojans caught fire from the free-throw line, canning 11-of-12 charities. Scoring five buckets from the field as well, the Trojans’ 21-point outburst in the second period matched the Black Bears point for point. Hillsboro trailed 35-25 at the half.

What worked well in the second quarter for the Trojans evaporated in the third. They didn’t have a single trip to the charity stripe, as the Black Bears used 41 percent shooting from the field to establish a comfortable 51-34 margin. Hillsboro outscored Sterling by a point in the fourth quarter, but lost 64-48.

The Trojans battled hard on the boards, outrebounding the Black Bears 41-39, and made 18-of-20 free throws.

As she did all season long, Alex Ratzlaff led the Trojans in scoring, going 10-for-10 from the free-throw line and totaling 19 points. Rebecca Kaufman scored 8, Abby Sechrist had 7, and the Trojans got 4 each from Tara Proffitt, Allison Weber, and Callie Linnens.