Lady Trojans rout shorthanded Marion
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The big question eating away at Lady Trojan coach Melissa Stenfors Friday was how her team was going to respond after being out of action for nearly a week.
After all, Hillsboro hadn't played since Saturday in the third-place game of the Trojan Classic.
Considering the visiting Marion Lady Warriors were riddled with injuries, the Trojans had a definite edge in depth.
And it paid off, too, with Stenfors getting others involved in the offense to trounce the Warriors, 65-45.
The win improves Hillsboro to 7-6 on the year.
"You always kind of wonder how you're going to come back out after being off three or four days," Stenfors said. "It really helps when you can fast-break. You get lay-ups, it pays off."
The Warriors jumped out to a 4-3 lead early before the tide made a huge turn in the Trojans' favor, one from which Marion could never recover.
But Marion was still in the game, 12-9, after the first quarter.
The Trojans' main focus defensively was on slowing down the Warriors' top two scorers, Toni Gordon and Allie Maddox.
"We wanted to jam as much as possible and make Toni go behind us and not let her get the ball," said Stenfors. "When we went into a wide, we wanted to know where she and 21 (Maddox) were so we could have Hannah (Marsh) face on the three-point shooting so we tried to combat both of those."
It didn't really work with Gordon and Maddox combining for 36 with 18 points a piece.
Tina Frick scored a team-high 15 points, and JuliAnne Chisholm and Marsh added 12 a piece.
The trio combined for 10 in the second quarter while Hillsboro jumped to a 32-20 lead at the break with the help of hitting a red-hot 61 percent from the floor and getting 17 points from Marion turnovers.
The Trojans blew the lid off the game the third quarter, bolting for a 17-8 run that left the Warriors in severe trouble, 49-28.
Besides Gordon and Maddox, Marion was stumped trying to find offense from anywhere else with just three other players scoring a combined nine points.
The Warriors outdid the Trojans 17-16 the fourth quarter, but Hillsboro did enough early to keep Marion well out of striking distance.
Hillsboro ended the game shooting a blistering season-high 62 percent from the field and holding Marion to 36 while forcing 25 turnovers which translated into 28 points for the Trojans.
Chisholm's game-high nine rebounds helped the Trojans outrebound the Warriors, 29-18, a surprise to Stenfors.
"They're (Trojans) settling into what they know they can do now," she said. "It's all falling together and things are starting to click. They're starting to know each other better and their chemistry is starting to gel a little bit more."
The Trojans travel to Sterling Friday for a 6 p.m. start against the Lady Black Bears.
Hillsboro then hosts the Smoky Valley Lady Vikings at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
