By John Rittenhouse
Pipestone-Jasper sophomores Stacey and Stef Plahn proved to be too much for Hills-Beaver Creek to contend with when the Patriots met the Arrows in a girls' basketball game in Hills Thursday.
The Plahns scored a combined 46 points to lead their team to a convincing 64-35 victory over H-BC in the first game after the Christmas break for both teams.
Stacey Plahn, a sharp-shooting guard, burned the nets for a game-high 28 points. Stef Plahn, a forward, added 18 points for the Arrows.
P-J got off to a great start by scoring the gameÕs first eight points.
H-BC trimmed the difference to five points (9-4) when LaDonna Sandstede banked in a layup at the 1:20 mark of the first quarter but the Arrows scored the final four points of the period to make it a 13-9 game.
Patriot Erin Boeve scored the first two points of the second quarter to bring H-BC within seven points (13-6) of the Arrows before P-J countered with a 17-6 run that gave it a 30-13 advantage. The Arrows settled for a 32-16 cushion at the intermission.
P-J increased its lead to 23 points at one stage of the third quarter, but H-BC responded with a late rally capped by Jamie Arp's field goal with 54 seconds remaining in the stanza to make the difference 41-29.
Arp, who scored all of her team-high 12 points in the second half, converted a three-point play 25 seconds into the fourth quarter to bring the Patriots within 11 points (43-32) of the Arrows.
P-J, however, reeled off a 14-0 run after Arp's tally to open a 57-32 lead and outscored the Patriots 7-3 the rest of the way to win by 29.
Brittney Olson and Sandstede registered four and three assists respectively for H-BC. Boeve and Jody DeNoble snared four rebounds each.
Box score
C.Tilstra 0 0 0-0 0, Olson 1 0 3-5 5, Sandstede 1 1 0-0 5, Brandt 0 0 0-0 0, Rentschler 3 0 1-2 7, S.Tilstra 0 0 0-0 0, Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, DeNoble 1 0 0-0 2, Boeve 2 0 0-0 4, DeHaan 0 0 0-0 0, Arp 5 0 2-5 12.
Team statistics
H-BC: 14 of 37 field goals (38 percent), six of 12 free throws (50 percent), 25 rebounds, 29 turnovers.
P-J: 22 of 49 field goals (45 percent), 19 of 30 free throws (63 percent), 26 rebounds, 13 turnovers.