It was a Southeast Iowa Superconference basketball doubleheader split Friday between the Columbus Wildcats and the Hillcrest Academy Ravens in Junction. The Columbus girls used suffocating defense to lock up a 44-11 victory over the visiting Ravens. The Cat’s corralled the Ravens all night, not allowing a field goal for the first 21 minutes of the game, only allowing two in total on the night, forced 37 Hillcrest turnovers and won the boards by seven. The Wildcats started the game on a 19-4 run that lasted the entire first period, and followed that with a 10-1 second quarter sprint to lead 29-5 at half. A 13-2 Columbus run out of the break enacted the running clock and put the game away. The Wildcats were led by a monster double double from Lily Coil with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Ariana Vergara added 12 points. Hillcrest was led by three points each from Malia Yoder and Lydia Beachy. After the contest, Coil, Frannie Sosa and Maddie Howell joined KCII sports to talk about the dominant Columbus win. Coil said, “Our defense was able to tire out the best player that they have and she couldn’t get a shot off. That’s what we needed. We trust the process like everyone tells us to, especially coach. We like to steal the ball and run. It’s amazing to see that many turnovers in one game. We used to be the ones that turned it over a lot but now, it’s not us and it feels great.

Howell continued, “We also communicated really well on defense. Shouting out screens and knowing where their shooters are. We said at the beginning of the season that defense was going to get us wins and that proved it tonight.

Sosa added, “We were focused on the one specific player. ‘Smelling their breakfast’ as coach likes to tell us. Tonight really proved how our defense works. It’s just about creating those opportunities with our defense. We do it in practice, and now we’re doing it in games.”

Columbus remains tied for the league lead at 8-1, 10-3 overall. The Ravens are 4-9 on the year, 1-9 in the Superconference.

The boys contest saw the Ravens race to a fast start and run away with a 64-19 win. Hillcrest led 23-6 after one and 45-9 at half to enact the running clock. Hillcrest won the third quarter 16-7 to ice the contest. The Ravens forced 30 Columbus turnovers and held the Wildcats without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the game. Hillcrest won the glass by six and had 18 team assists. Seth Ours led the Ravens with 22 points, including six threes. Bryce Bailey added 15 points, Mason Bender 12 and Rowan Miller led with seven assists and six boards. After the game, Ours and Miller joined KCII Sports to talk about the Raven win. Ours said, “Before games we always set a goal for kills. A kill is three defensive stops in a row. We had a lot of those tonight. All of the momentum was on our side. I felt like we did a good job on offense of keeping the ball moving against their zone and I was able to move to the open spaces. My teammates did a good job of driving and kicking and I was able to hit shots.”

Miller continued, “Great defense leads to great offense. It makes my job easy when guys are open and you can get the ball down the floor to find the open guy. Running in transition is important to get easy buckets.”

Ellis Hills-Carrier led Columbus with 12 points. The win pushes Hillcrest to 9-3 on the year and 5-3 in conference. Columbus is now 2-9 on the season and 2-6 in league play.