The Hills-Beaver Creek girls advanced to the championship game of the South Section 3A Tournament by posting a pair of wins in Worthington.
The top-seeded Patriots coasted to a 40-point win over No. 8 Edgerton Saturday before besting No. 4 Red Rock Central by 20 points Monday.
H-BC, 22-2 overall, takes on No. 2 Southwest Christian in Friday’s 6 p.m. championship game in Marshall.
H-BC 65, RRC 45
The Patriots used a strong second half to best the Falcons during Monday’s semifinal-round game in Worthington.
H-BC appeared to be sluggish during the game’s first half, but the Patriots outscored RRC 38-23 in the second half to secure a 20-point conquest.
The teams exchanged six-point runs to start the game before the Patriots went on a 15-3 surge to open a 19-8 lead when Taryn Rauk converted a layup at the 7:58 mark of the first half.
RRC countered by scoring eight consecutive points to trim the difference to four (21-17) with 5:16 remaining, but H-BC increased the lead to five points (27-22) at the intermission.
The Falcons closed the gap to one point at two different occasions in the first three minutes of the second half.
To their credit, the Patriots didn’t blink.
H-BC embarked on a 24-9 run to sport a 53-37 lead when Sam Moser drained one free throw with 7:56 left to play.
The Patriots proceeded to pull away from the Falcons over the final seven minutes to win by 20 when Rauk hit a pair of charity shots with less than 10 seconds left.
Rauk (25 points and 13 steals), Abby Knobloch (14 points and three assists) and Whitney Elbers (12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots) played key roles in the win.
Kenadie Fick added five steals to the winning cause.
Box score
Fick 0 0 0-0 0, Rauk 7 1 8-9 25, Birger 1 1 0-0 5, Bos 1 0 0-0 2, Knobloch 4 1 3-6 14, Moser 3 0 1-3 7, Elbers 5 0 2-6 12.
Team statistics
H-BC: 24 of 63 field goals (38 percent), 14 of 24 free throws (58 percent), 24 rebounds, 26 turnovers.
RRC: 18 of 65 field goals (28 percent), six of 13 free throws (46 percent), 30 rebounds, 29 turnovers.
H-BC 71, Edgerton 31
The Patriots opened the tournament by strolling to a 40-point win over the Flying Dutchmen during Saturday’s quarterfinals in Worthington.
The tournament’s top seed gained control of the game by opening a 44-16 cushion in the first half.
H-BC prevailed by 40 after outscoring Edgerton 27-15 in the second half.
Rauk (28 points and four steals), Fick (15 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals) and Elbers (10 points, seven blocked shots and five rebounds) led the Patriots to victory.
Knobloch (five rebounds, four assists and four steals), Moser (six rebounds) and Joslyn Birger (three steals) played solid games as well.
Box score
Fick 1 3 4-4 15, Rauk 9 3 1-2 28, Birger 0 0 0-0 0, Voss 0 1 0-0 3, Bos 1 0 0-0 2, Knobloch 1 0 0-0 2, Tatge 0 0 0-0 0, Van Maanen 0 0 0-0 0, Bork 0 0 0-0 0, Deelstra 0 0 1-2 1, LaRock 1 0 0-0 2, W.Elbers 4 0 2-5 10, L.Elbers 0 0 0-0 0.
Team statistics
H-BC: 27 of 76 field goals (36 percent), 10 of 17 free throws (59 percent), 31 rebounds, nine turnovers.
Edgerton: 10 of 50 field goals (20 percent), eight of 12 free throws (67 percent), 36 rebounds, 28 turnovers.