Trojan girls end season with hard-fought loss
The Hillsboro High School girls' basketball team ended its trek to the state tournament with a 43-40 loss to the Hesston Swathers last Friday.
"We played the best game of our season," said coach Becky Carlson. "We played the way we wanted to at the end of the game and gave ourselves a chance to win."
Freshman Hannah Marsh had the game of the tournament. She scored 18 points for the Trojans, including the first two baskets and the last basket which brought Hillsboro within two points with 30 seconds left in the game.
Marsh shot 83 percent from two-point range and 66 percent from three-point range. She made two of three free throws, grabbed five steals, and dished out four assists.
Senior Katie Fast led the team in rebounds with nine and in blocked shots with seven. Fast scored 11 points, including five-of-six free throw shooting.
Hesston led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter and 36-27 at the end of the second quarter. In the first half, the Swathers led by as many as nine points.
Emily Ratzlaff and JuliAnne Chisholm gained some bench time with two quick fouls each in the first quarter.
The Trojans came out the second half and played the Swathers a tough ball game. At the end of the third quarter, the Trojans were down 36-29.
In the fourth quarter, with some of the Swathers on the bench because of foul trouble, the Trojans overcame the seven point deficit in the last three minutes of the game to get as close as 42-40 on the last Trojan basket by Marsh.
"We played with heart and desire," Carlson said. "We didn't lose our composure, and we didn't give up."
The Trojans end their season 13-9 overall and 9-4 in the league. They will lose Fast, who has already signed with Tabor, and return two freshmen and two juniors from their starting five.
Hesston won the sub-state tournament on Saturday by defeating Hutchinson Trinity, 52-26.
