The Hillcrest Academy Raven boys and girls basketball teams traveled to Wapello Tuesday for a Southeast Iowa Superconference doubleheader with the Indians and Arrows. The boys returned with a 49-32 win. Hillcrest trailed 6-4 early, but put together a 19-6 run, that included a nine minute Wapello drought, to lead 10-8 after one quarter and 23-12 at half. After the Ravens pushed the lead to 16 out of intermission, the Indians rallied on a Jackson Lanz buzzer-beating three at the quarter break to get back within eight going to the fourth. The Hillcrest defense locked down in the final frame as the Ravens outscored Wapello 15-6 to close the win. Following the victory, Raven players Seth Ours, Mason Bender and Bryce Bailey joined KCII sports to talk about the keys to the win.

Ours said, “Rebounding is just about grit. Who wants it more? Getting rebounds and pushing it in transition helps our offense. It felt hard at times tonight to score, but we did a good job of driving, and when they did collapse, kicking and knocking down threes.”

Bender continued, “It felt like their turnovers that we forced early gave us momentum when we needed it. There was more posting scoring this game. Fewer jumpers, more attacking the rim.”

Bailey added, “Whenever you can get easy buckets, you can get momentum going. It felt like those were super important. They were playing physical so we took it at them. We were playing more aggressive.”

Hillcrest won the glass 28-21 and the turnover battle 14-11. Bailey led the Ravens with 15 points and snared six rebounds. Ours added 14 points with six assists and Bender chipped in 10 points with six boards. Lanz paced Wapello with 13 points. The win moves Hillcrest to 6-2, the loss drops Wapello to 2-7.

The girls contest was back and forth into the second half before the Arrows took control and a 49-40 win. The Ravens were on top 14-12 after the first and 22-21 at half. Wapello got things on track in the third quarter, putting together a 6-0 run midway through the period to take a lead they wouldn’t give up the rest of the night, despite four Claire Withrow threes in the frame for Hillcrest. The Ravens made one more run late, to get within 41-40 with four minutes to go, only to see the Arrows close with the final eight points of the game to secure the win. Jackayla Nelson and Tatum Wolford led Wapello with 16 and 15 points respectively. The Arrows won the glass 38-30 and each team committed 20 turnovers. Withrow led the Ravens with 20 points. The Hillcrest girls are now 2-8, the Arrows are 4-5.

The Raven boys and girls have a final doubleheader before Christmas on Thursday when they host Cedar Valley Christian.