H-BC girls’ basketball team ends season

The H-BC girls’ basketball team traveled to take on Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in subsection play Saturday, Feb. 25, losing 53-39 to the Panthers.
Though their season has ended, head coach Dylan Gehrke had praise for his team. 
“Our girls left it all out there, and I could not be prouder of them,” Gehrke said. “This was a great learning experience for our girls and myself as a coach.  I am hoping that this drives their motivation during the offseason to come back better than ever next year.”
H-BC will be without seniors Olivia Bork or Taylor Huisman next year but will gain five new leaders from their juniors.
“TMB’s offensive, rebounds, second chance points, and our turnovers really hurt us,” Gehrke said.
“We also ran into some heavy foul trouble in the first half and early in the second half.”
The Patriots led 18-17 in the first half with about five minutes left in the half when TMB went on a 12-5 run and closed the half leading by eight.
 TMB extended their lead to double digits in the second half, but the Patriots cut TMB’s lead to 10 with 10 minutes to play. 
“We had a little momentum going our way, but couldn’t trim the lead down anymore for the rest of the game,” said Gehrke.
Eighth-grader Olivia Deelstra led the Patriots in scoring with 15 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds, had two assists, three steals and one blocked shot.
Juniors Lanae Elbers and Layla Deelstra added nine points each.
Elbers helped with seven rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots. Deelstra grabbed nine rebounds, had two assists and three steals in the game.
Sophomore Emma Deelstra and freshman Abbie Harris each contributed two points. Deelstra also had three rebounds, and Harris grabbed three rebounds, had two assists and one steal for the Patriots.
Juniors Larissa Steinhoff and Claire Knobloch both added one free throw each, and junior Brynn Rauk added two rebounds and one assist.