The Hills-Beaver Creek girls fell one game off the pace in Tri-County Conference basketball play when they dropped a 54-28 decision to Southwest Christian in Hills Thursday.
H-BC, SWC and Ellsworth all were unbeaten in the loop entering ThursdayÕs play.
SWC and Ellsworth now share the top spot, while H-BC is in second place with a 1-1 mark.
The Patriots kept things close against SWC for two quarters, but the E-Gals used a 32-14 scoring cushion in the second half to win by 26 points in the end.
"It was a situation where we wanted to keep it close, and we hung in there with them in the first half," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle. "Then they just overpowered us. They have a lot of weapons."
The E-Gals led by five points (11-6) after eight minutes of play before extending the difference to eight counters (22-14) with an 11-8 scoring edge in the second period.
SWC padded the margin to 12 points (35-23) by the end of the third quarter of play before outscoring the Patriots 19-5 in the final eight minutes to put the game away.
The E-Gals outshot H-BC 43-26 percent from the field and 59-38 percent at the line. The Patriots turned the ball over seven more times (24-17) than SWC did at game's end.
Shanna Tilstra led H-BC in scoring with nine points.
Jamie Arp grabbed six rebounds and produced three steals for the Patriots. Jody Rentschler added three steals.
Box score
C.Tilstra 0 0 0-0 0, Olson 2 0 0-0 4, Sandstede 0 1 0-1 3, Brandt 0 0 0-0 0, Rentschler 0 0 0-0 0, S.Tilstra 4 0 1-4 9, Broesder 1 0 0-2 2, Rozeboom 0 0 0-0 0, Boeve 2 0 0-0 4, Arp 1 0 4-6 6.
Team statistics
H-BC: 11 of 43 field goals, five of 13 free throws (38 percent), 23 rebounds, 24 turnovers.
SWC: 21 of 49 field goals (43 percent), 10 of 17 free throws (59 percent), 26 rebounds, 17 turnovers.