Hughes leads Hillcrest with 14 points at Pekin
By Jeff Yoder/The News
The Hillcrest girls basketball went on a run in each half, but couldn’t come back from an early deficit in a 36-21 loss at Pekin on Friday.
The Ravens struggled on both ends of the floor as Pekin scored the first 14 points of the game and led 14-2 after the first quarter.
“They’ve got a really good 2-3 zone, and they’re really good at forcing everything out of the paint,” Hillcrest coach Mitchell Drey said. “We got a lot of clean looks in the first quarter. Norah, Malia, and Esther all got some clean looks and they just didn’t fall for us.”
After falling behind 17-2 in the second quarter, the Ravens and Lady Panthers played even at 19-19 over the rest of the game.
“Pekin’s girls did a good job playing with their hands,” Drey said. “I think we started expecting that contact, and once we started playing through it and looking for that contact, we got some fouls then we started playing from inside out. It was good from there.”
Esther Hughes had all eight of the Raven points in the first half and cut the 15-point lead to 11 with a pair of baskets before halftime. She also scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and finished with 14.
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