Lady Trojans crush Halstead
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
It was apparent Friday night at Halstead on the Lady Dragons' first possession that they didn't want to get into a 90-foot track meet with the quicker Hillsboro High School girls' basketball team.
With speedsters like the Lady Trojans' Jenna Jost, Amber Hefley and Andrea Peachey in the lineup, smart teams wouldn't.
Wanting instead to slow the game down, it all unraveled on Halstead early as the Trojans went for the jugular by halftime.
While Halstead tried to keep its foot on the brake, the Trojans' foot was on the gas as Hillsboro sped right past the Dragons for a 58-22 blowout.
Hillsboro moves to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the MCAA.
The Trojans' quicker defense turned 32 minutes into chaos for Halstead.
The lopsided win for Hillsboro allowed Head Coach Becky Carlson to empty her bench midway through the fourth quarter.
Despite Hillsboro going the opening 2:07 of the game scoreless, it didn't take long for the floodgates to open on the Dragons.
Hefley's three with 5:53 left in the first quarter gave the Trojans a 3-2 lead — and they never looked back.
Hefley was just one of three Trojans in double figures with 12 points to go along with her game-high four steals.
Shannon Kroeker finished with a double-double with game-highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sara Thiessen added 11 points and four rebounds.
The Trojans forced six first quarter turnovers by the Dragons, which Hillsboro converted into six points.
Up 14-5 after one quarter, Hillsboro blew the game wide open.
If the Dragons' balloon hadn't completely deflated after the Trojans' first quarter, it popped in the second quarter as Hillsboro took off on a 13-0 run fueled by a Jill Hein triple.
When Karen Wendling finally scored the Dragons' first point in a span exceeding 5:00 with a free throw, the Trojans had already built a 27-6 lead.
By halftime, Halstead had scored eight points on a vile 19 percent shooting from the floor.
But the Dragons, harassed by the swarming full-court Trojan defense, had twice as many turnovers as points.
And Hillsboro cashed in eight points to help them to a commanding 34-8 lead at the break.
Hillsboro used its quickness to its advantage, creating 29 looks at the basket of which 14 were good for 48 percent.
The Trojans would eventually come close to matching their first half shooting for the night at 47.2 percent from 21-for-44.
It would only get worse for the Dragons in the second half.
For more than half of the entire third quarter, the Trojans held Halstead scoreless before hitting a cold spell themselves.
During the Trojans' slump, Halstead could only muster two points to pull to 42-12.
Even when Carlson emptied her bench in the fourth quarter, Hillsboro's damage in the first half kept the Dragons from ever posing a threat.
Excluding Hillsboro's 67 percent from 4-for-6 from the free throw line, the Trojans' only other flaw of the game came late with careless ball handling.
Still, of the 11 Trojan turnovers, the Dragons were only able to score four points.
The Trojans enjoy a two-game home stand this week with Nickerson visiting Tuesday and formidable Sterling on Friday.
Hillsboro 58, Halstead 22
Halstead 5 3 6 8 22
Hillsboro 14 20 12 12 58
Hillsboro — Jenna Jost 5, Kroeker 15, Robyn Penner 2, Andrea Peachey 4, Hein 5, Thiessen 11, Hefley 12, Shelby Estelle 2, Holly Lindsay 2, Totals — 21-44 4-9 4-6 58.
