Lady Trojans fall short against mighty Hesston
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Opportunity knocked for the Lady Trojans.
Unfortunately, Hillsboro couldn't get to the door Saturday night before it was too late in the title game of the Lyons sub-state match against the high-powered Hesston Lady Swathers.
The Swathers had too many weapons for the Trojans to handle with Hesston beating Hillsboro soundly, 63-41.
To take down a powerful team like the Swathers, one that dominated them during the regular season, Trojan coach Becky Carlson knew it would take a near-flawless game on her team's behalf.
Twelve turnovers, an icy 19 percent shooting from the field and 28 overall added up to bad news for Hillsboro, who ends the year at 15-8 overall.
"We missed too many easy shots," Carlson said. "I don't really think it was their pressure as much as maybe we felt a lot of pressure, we had a lot of good looks, we just couldn't get them to fall."
No kidding there, as the Trojans spent half the game looking to get the ball into the hoop.
During that time, the Swathers were extending their lead, one Hillsboro couldn't stick with except early in the game.
The Trojans were within 12-8 after the first quarter before Hesston opened the second with a 9-0 run.
Hillsboro sophomore Hannah Marsh is one of its two main scoring threats.
In the meantime, the Trojans had to contend with Natalie Wheeler, Kristin Frey, and Lauren Raleigh.
The trio, behind a game-high 17 from Wheeler, combined to tie the Trojans in scoring overall.
Sadly, foul trouble kept Marsh from getting into the grove of the game as she picked up her third foul with 4:40 left in the first half.
"Foul trouble hurt us, but we still had looks," Carlson said. "We just couldn't get them to fall. The effort was good, it just wasn't our night."
That pretty much summed up the game for Hillsboro.
Ice cold from the floor, Hillsboro managed a sole field goal the second quarter, leaving the rest of the work to be done at the foul line.
Luckily, the Trojans were a perfect 6-of-6 at the line, but Hesston quickly raced to a 28-16 lead after Amber Brown just beat the buzzer.
Hesston struggled with ball-handling, too.
But the lid over the Hillsboro basket kept the Trojans from ever jeopardizing the Swather lead.
Hitting 3-of-11 won't add up to great results against a team like Hesston though, with the Swathers comfortably up 42-28 heading into the last stretch.
The Trojans couldn't overcome the Swather double-digit lead the fourth quarter, trimming it as short as 14 on a fastbreak by Julianne Chisholm with 5:35 left in the season.
Chisolm ended her sophomore season with six points while senior Emily Ratzlaff scored a team-high 11 in her final game.
Ratzlaff's fellow senior teammate Amy Duerksen added nine points while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.
The Trojans finished the game with just five field goals despite hitting 46 percent from outside.
'We tried, we gave it all we had," said Carlson. "We just couldn't get our shots to fall. We lost to a good team."
Hillsboro loses the senior quartet of Duerksen, Ratzlaff, Marissa Diener, and Sara Prieb.
With Chisholm and Marsh returning, the Trojans could have enough next season to perhaps make it step further.
