Photos Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook
The Hillcrest Raven boys and girls basketball teams put everyone in a festive mood prior to Christmas break on Thursday, sweeping the visiting Huskies of Cedar Valley Christian in a boy/girl doubleheader.
In boys action, the Ravens ran away from the Huskies 64-17. Hillcrest used suffocating defense in the first half, pitching a shut out in the first quarter to lead 20-0 and put themselves on top 35-5 at intermission. The Ravens enacted the running block by winning the third quarter 19-9 and finished the game on a 10-3 run with reserves that spanned the entire fourth frame. This week, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich talked with KCII Sports about the most impressive parts of his team’s performance. Gingerich said, “The guys really did a great job playing sticky defense. Getting into passing lanes. They made things difficult on Cedar Valley Christian. We got everybody in and the guys off the bench came in and played well. We had Owen Scott step in the starting lineup in the guard court, he came in and gave us some good defense throughout the game. Kale Bailey also made a start for us as a freshman and played well. Our veterans, Seth Ours, Mason Bender, and Bryce Bailey played also played well. Just the balance of those three guys to lead the way this year has been very important for us. They’re juniors, but are playing like seniors with the experience that they have.”
The Ravens shot a sizzling 55% from the floor, dished out 22 assists, and had 19 steals. Seth Ours led the Raven attack with 25 points and eight assists. Mason Bender finished with 23 points. Mason Helmuth was best on the boards with seven and Ours, Bender and Helmuth all had four steals. The win pushes Hillcrest to 8-2 going into the holidays. CVC is 1-8.
In the ladies contest, the Ravens rolled to a 53-21 win. Head coach Mitchell Drey spoke with KCII Sports about the winning formula and the momentum it gives his team going into break. Drey said, “We came out quick and finished the game strong. We got Claire (Withrow) open looks early, we attacked in our full court press. We made Cedar Valley Christian deal with our full court and half course pressure with Claire (Withrow) and Malia (Yoder) at the top of the 2-3 zone. We extended the lead into halftime and then got some of our backup girls in so they could get some quality minutes. It was a great win going into break. We’ve had a lot of close games through the first eight games in conference. Having a game where we could come out, work on our own stuff and get some momentum rolling into break so everyone feels confident was important. We’ve seen how we can play and how we want to play, so now when I’m having them run those extra sprints over break, or work on those extra tough defensive reps, we have the momentum coming off of the win and are motivated to keep it going into the second half of the season.”
The Raven girls are now 3-8 on the year as CVC falls to 0-8. The Ravens open 2024 on January 2nd at home against Winfield-Mt. Union.