The Hillcrest Academy boys and girls basketball teams hosted Pekin in a Southeast Iowa Superconference doubleheader on Friday in Kalona. The Lady Panthers got the win in the opener 56-12. Pekin scored the first 11 of the night and raced out to a 21-2 lead after one quarter. The Panthers continued to stretch things out in the second, taking a 33-7 lead into the half. It was another run out of the locker room, this time 14 in a row for Pekin that enacted the continuous clock as the lead grew to 50-9 through three quarters. Yani Gutierrez led the Ravens with eight points, Pekin was led by Sophie Wittrock with 16. The Raven girls are now 1-5 on the year, Pekin remains perfect at 5-0.
The Hillcrest boys scored a statement win over the Panthers 68-54. The Ravens took control early and never trailed en route to the win, scoring the game’s first seven points. Hillcrest was up 16-7 after one quarter. The Panthers made a move in the second quarter to get within 27-23 but Hillcrest withstood the charge and took a 34-28 lead into the half. Out of the locker room, the two teams played even late into the third where the Ravens held a 48-41 lead, from that point on Kobe Borntrager and Noah Miller took over in the game’s final 10 minutes and helped Hillcrest to the victory. After the game, Raven head coach Dwight Gingerich talked about the team victory. “We got contributions up and down the lineup tonight. Eli Ours had 27 points but also played a great floor game and got others involved. I thought Noah Miller was terrific and Kobe Borntrager stepped out and hit some big shots. We got great minutes from Aaron Hershberger, Drew Blauvelt, Will Kolck, Aiden Yoder and others off the bench tonight. It was really a team win over a very good Pekin team.”
Eli Ours led the way for Hillcrest with 27 points, 20 of those in the first half. Noah Miller finished with 17, 11 in the second half and Kobe Borntrager 14, 12 of those in the second half. The loss is the first of the season for Pekin, they drop to 3-1 while the Ravens are now 2-2. Hillcrest will next be in action at Wapello Tuesday.