A pair of old rivals met Friday at Hillcrest Union in Kalona when the Hillcrest Academy Ravens hosted the Columbus Wildcats in a Southeast Iowa Superconference basketball doubleheader. In a pair of games heard on AM and FM KCII, each school scored a victory. The boys contest saw the Ravens start the game red-hot on offense, en route to a 65-20 running clock win. Hillcrest started the game on a 20-8 run that lasted the entire first quarter and closed the opening half on a 20-5 run that spanned the entire second frame, leading 40-13 at the break. They would go on to win the second half 25-7, including a 13-1 fourth quarter. After the game, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingierch joined the broadcast to talk about the keys and standouts. “It was good to see Seth (Ours) penetrate, and it was good to see Grant (Bender) make good decisions as far as posting up and driving. It was a nice blend, and he’s so good (Bender) around the basket. That allowed him to have success early. The ball was moving, and that always helps. We did a better job taking care of the ball. Everyone played well and contributed but those two guys led the charge. We talked after the game about what they liked and the effort part is what was mentioned right away. It’s what you want to see, especially coming off of a tough loss.”
Seth Ours led the scoring for Hillcrest, putting up 19 points, 17 in the first half including three first quarter threes. Grant Bender added 16, 12 in the first half. In total, nine Ravens scored. Daniel Martinez paced Columbus with eight points. The win moves the Ravens to 6-3 on the season and 6-2 in conference. Columbus falls to 2-10 overall, 1-8 in league play.
The girls game went the opposite way, with the Wildcats starting hot and taking a 39-18 victory. The Wildcats charged out of the gate on a 17-4 run that lasted the entire first period. They would parlay that into a 26-11 lead at the break. Columbus held the Ravens to just one field goal in the third quarter to stretch their lead to 35-13 after three and the benches for both sides finished the contest. After the game, Wildcat head coach Kasey Keltner talked about the keys and standouts. “That was a fantastic first quarter for us. Great to see our pressure cause some turnovers, get out and run, get some buckets that way and get our confidence level up. (Ariana Vergara) just gets better and better every day, it’s extremely fun to watch and coach her. She just goes! We tell her ‘hey, you got the best player on their team, lock up, and then offensively, every day she’s getting better. Every night out it seems like these kids share the ball really well. They are so unselfish. Sara (Vela) picked it up tonight and that was great for us. Aracely (Garza) played really hard and made some key plays. Gets the rebound for the one and done and then comes down and hits a big three when they had some momentum. That’s huge for us! Those girls show up every day and they work hard.”
It was a trio of top Cats for Columbus with Ariana Vergara, Sara Vela and Aracely Garza all scoring nine. Claire Withrow had nine for the Ravens. The win moves Columbus to 6-7 overall and 5-4 in conference. The Ravens are 0-11 on the season.