RAVENS BASKETBALL WEEKLY RECAP
Articles submitted by Zach Ulin/KCII
Raven Boys Take Down Trojans
Thursday night the Hillcrest Academy Raven boys basketball team scored a non-conference win over Class 3A Fairfield 64-49 at Dwight Gingerich Court at Hillcrest Union. Things were even at 10 after the first quarter but the Ravens turned up the heat with their defensive pressure to go on a 20-9 run that spanned the entire second frame, taking a 30-19 lead into half. Hillcrest was able to use good shooting from a number of hot hands to hold off the Trojans in the second half as the two teams played relatively even on the scoreboard with Fairfield winning the third 18-17 and the Ravens the fourth 14-12. Hillcrest shot 46% from the floor and knocked down six threes as a group. They outrebounded the Trojans by four, had an impressive 20 assists and 12 steals while forcing 20 Trojan turnovers.
Read More HERE!
Ravens Rout Rivermont and Morningstar in Saturday Matinee
The Hillcrest Academy Raven boys and girls basketball teams put on a show Saturday afternoon in Kalona for the home fans grabbing a pair of non-conference wins in the early season. The Raven boys rolled to a 63-28 victory over visiting Rivermont Collegiate. Hillcrest led 18-13 after the opening stanza and put the clamps on the Lions in the second quarter, winning the frame 16-3, including a seven and a half minute Rivermont drought, to take a 24-16 lead into the half. The Raven defense continued to dictate the action in the third, putting the Lions through another five minute drought out of halftime, as Hillcrest enacted the running clock winning the period 18-4 to take a 52-20 lead to the fourth. The Ravens shot 41% as a team and hit seven threes. They outrebounded the Lions by 16, dished out 20 assists and had 11 steals. Seth Ours had a team high 16 points, Owen Scott added 10 to go with eight rebounds. Rowan Miller and Bryce Bailey each had five assists. After the win, Ours, Scott, Bailey and Miller joined KCII Sports to talk about the victory. Ours said, “We’re moving the ball really well on offense. I was able to create some open shots, and also get some open shots based off of passes and screens from teammates.”
Scott continued, “Everyone boxing out created a lot of space for us to get rebounds.”
Bailey said, “I feel like our whole team does a good job of moving the ball, cutting, and finding the open man in transition. We’re a pretty fast team and we run the break really well. It’s easy to look up and find the open guy cutting or when we run through our offense.”
Miller finished, “No one is selfish on the team. We are always looking for the better shot. When guys are able to run and push in transition, that makes it easy to throw it ahead.”
The Hillcrest boys stand at 3-0 as Rivermont falls to 0-2.
The Raven girls moved past Morningstar Academy 57-31. Hillcrest jumped up early 14-5 and used a 26-3 run during the entire second quarter to take a 40-8 advantage to the locker room. The Ravens enacted the running clock early in the third quarter and cruised to the victory. Hillcrest shot 38% from the floor as a group and 50% from long distance. The Ravens grabbed 28 rebounds, had 19 steals and dished out 16 assists. Delaney Shaw went double double for Hillcrest 12 points and 11 boards.
Claire Withrow had a team high 22 points including going three of three from deep, while Malia Yoder added 16. Following the victory, Shaw, Withrow and Yoder joined KCII sports to talk about how the win played out. Withrow said, “(It helped) Pushing the ball up the court, seeing the floor, the girls ahead in transition was important on offense.”
