Lady Trojans are state champs
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
After so many years of falling short of a girls' Class 3A state basketball championship, the Lady Trojans were finally able to put those 11 years behind them Saturday, pounding the Sacred Heart Lady Knights, 50-31.
The Trojans more than made up for their third-place finish in the 2006 3A state volleyball tournament, capturing their first state basketball crown since 1996.
Hillsboro ended their championship season winning 12 straight for a 23-3 finish.
If you had asked Trojan coach Dale Honeck what was going to keep Hillsboro from winning a state title, it would be a monster game from Knight standout Katie Pratt.
The suffocating Hillsboro defense kept that from happening at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, limiting Pratt to just three points and missing all five three-point attempts.
"It was our defense again," an ecstatic Honeck said. "We did a really good job on Pratt. We said for them to win, she'd have to score. We did a good job on her."
It wasn't just on Pratt, but all the teams that managed to get in the Trojans' way at Hutchinson.
Hillsboro wiped out the Garden Plain Lady Owls in the first round Wednesday, allowing their most points during the tournament in a 54-39 waltz.
On Friday in the semifinal game, the Trojans handed the previously unbeaten Neodesha Lady Blue Streaks their first defeat in blowout fashion, 57-31.
In three games, Hillsboro yielded 34 points a game and 25 percent shooting to its opponents.
But the Knights fared the worst of all, shooting a worthless 19 percent for the game and 17 percent from outside.
Like the other two teams, Sacred Heart had no answer for JuliAnne Chisholm, who ran loose for a game-high 17 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and three steals for her final high school game.
Chisholm's 19 points a game average left her the top scorer of the tournament.
Hillsboro led all but the first 1:19 of the game before Chisholm scored eight of the Trojans' first 10 points for a 10-3 edge.
Sacred Heart whittled the lead to 12-10 after the first quarter — the closest they would come to overtaking the Trojan lead.
"They started coming back, they do have a good team and they have lots of good players," Chisholm said. "We just started picking up our intensity again, putting our defense back together and doing the things we know how to do."
Freshman Dakota Kaufman had her best game of the tournament, supplying eight points, counting two that helped the Trojans stretch their lead to 23-12 not even 3:00 into the second quarter.
The Knights couldn't get the cover off the basket, making a meager four field goals for 18 percent the first half to trail 23-16.
"They had 16 at half, we said if we can keep them to another 16, we'd win," said Honeck.
Sacred Heart cut the lead to 25-21 with 5:40 left in the third quarter, but freshman Samantha Soyez knocked down a three to put Hillsboro's lead back to double digits to start the fourth quarter.
Chisholm took over the fourth quarter, scoring off two steals for transition baskets to construct a commanding 44-27 lead with about 3:00 left in the game.
Kaufman got six of her eight points the fourth quarter, giving Hillsboro its largest lead, 48-28 as Honeck emptied his bench.
Kassidi Luthi put the finishing touches on the season, scoring the final basket for the 50-31 score before the Trojans rushed the floor.
"They've worked so hard for this," Honeck said of the Trojans' title. "Over their four-year career I know they've done a lot of things right.
"I happened to come along at the right time when we had a lot of good kids, it just jelled together. This is the greatest experience I've had coaching, not just today, or the tournament, but working with these girls. This was my grand finale."
Honeck's heroic run started back in the summer when he was selected the Trojan coach, and like any hero, he'll ride off into the sunset a winner and a state champion.
"It was awesome, we had a ton of fun with him this year," Chisholm said of playing for Honeck. "I think this is the most fun year of basketball I ever had. He is a real big defensive coach, so he's moving us in and out of defenses all the time.
"That's the key because really our best offense has been our defense this year."
After all, offense wins games; defense wins championships. The 2006-07 Trojans proved that.
Hillsboro will suffer devastating losses with the graduation of seniors Chisholm, Tina Frick, Hannah Marsh, Lora Andrews, Megan McCarty, and quite possibly Honeck, but the Trojans' underclassmen showed the signs of being able to carry the banner high.
