Hiawatha Girls Win Home Invite - Hand Jackson Heights First Loss
For just the second time in 42 years and first since 2016, the Hiawatha girls basketball team won their home invitational on Saturday in the Roundhouse. It was a battle of state ranked teams with a combined 22-1 record, but an early 8-0 first quarter run put Hiawatha ahead for good in route to a 51-40 victory against Jackson Heights.
The Redhawks only led 13-11 after one quarter but stretched the margin to 30-21 at halftime as sophomore Abby Ellfner came off the bench and hit three triples. After setting a new school record two nights prior with 13 treys, Hiawatha made 8 on Saturday and 6 of those were in the first half against a Cobra zone defense. The closest Jackson Heights got after halftime was five points at 30-25, but Hiawatha responded with five straight points and protected the lead by hitting 17 of 22 free throws in the contest before two misses with a couple seconds left.
Clara Lindstrom, who set an individual school record with seven treys against ACCHS in Thursday's semifinal hit four more and scored 21 points while knocking down 9-12 from the stripe. She was named to the All Tourney Team along with Ellfner and Darcy Lierz who scored 10 in the championship. Hiawatha is now 12-1 on the season as they host Nemaha Central and Jeff West next week in Big 7 play.
Jackson Heights had 22 turnovers and only one player made more than two shots as Kaylee Thompson's 24 points paced the Cobras who are now 11-1 on the season. Thompson was named to the All Tourney Team along with Kanyon Olberding, who was held to five points on Saturday. JH also did not make any three-pointers in ony their second game decided by less than 19 points this season.
ACCHS won the third place game in overtime beating St. Mary's 53-51 while Atchison placed 5th with a 60-21 win against KC Harmon.
2022 HIT All Tourney Team
Clara Lindstrom - Hiawatha
Darcy Lierz - HIawatha
Abby Ellfner - Hiawatha
Kaylee Thompson - Jackson Heights
Kanyon Olberding - Jackson Heights
Addison Schletzbaum - ACCHS
Kinzie Bauerle - ACCHS
Hayden Heim - St. Mary's
Brenna Smith - St. Mary's
Katy Harris - Atchison
