The Britton-Hecla girls basketball team dropped a pair of contests in the past week to take a 1-4 record into the holiday break.
Coach Terry Nelson’s crew lost a narrow 32-30 decision to Deuel on Thursday and were outscored 75-21 by Florence-Henry on Friday. The Lady Braves are back in action on Tuesday in a doubleheader with the boys’ team at Milbank.
“Our number one focus in the new year is getting the ball in the hole,” said Nelson, “and we have to play defense and rebound. We’re shorter than everybody else, so we just have to work harder.”
Florence-Henry 75 Britton-Hecla 21
Unbeaten Florence-Henry canned five three-pointers in the first 12 minutes and rolled to a 34-11 halftime lead on the way to its fifth win.
The Lady Braves didn’t have an answer for two-time All-Stater Caylin Kelly. The 5-11 senior hit a pair of threepointers and dominated the paint on the way to a gamehigh 23 points.
“They were making them (53%) and we didn’t make anything (22%),” noted Nelson. “I thought we had made good progress in passing the ball more than dribbling, but in this game it went the other way because of Florence-Henry’s defense.”
Tiyanna Schott had five points to lead B-H, and Sterling Brassfield and Addison Wade added four each.
FLORENCE-HENRY: Haley Hlavacek 3 3-4 12, Taylor Watson 3 4-4 11, Reese Schmidt 3 1-2 8, Grace Kahnke 1 1-2 3, Caylin Kelly 9 3-4 23, Ashlynn Vavruska 2 0-0 4, Ashelyn Klitzke 1 1-2 3, Griffyn Muller 2 2-2 6, Andie Rislov 1 0-0 2, Brooke Hlavacek 1 1-1 3. Totals 26 16-22 75.
BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 1 2-2 4, Tiyanna Schott 2 1 2 5, Jayden Bender 1 0-0 2, Addison Wade 2 0-0 4, Heather Storbakken 1 0 0 2, RaeAnn Hageman 0 2-2 2, Karlie Zuehlke 0 0-2 0, Mallory Grupe 0 0-2 0, Maddie Micko 1 0-0 2. Totals 8 5-10 21. F H (5-0) 14 34 62 75 BH (1-4) 7 11 19 21
3-point goals – H. Hlavacek 3, Watson, Schmidt, Kelly 2. Total fouls – FH 12, BH 17.
Deuel 32 Britton-Hecla 30
Deuel jumped out to an early seven-point lead, but the Lady Braves hung around and had a chance to win the game in the final minute.
The visitors led 18-14 at intermission but B-H outscored the Cardinals 8-5 in the third period to cut the margin to 2322 behind a pair of fielders each from Addison Wade and Tiyanna Schott.
Wade added another bucket to give the Lady Braves their first lead of the game at 24-23 with 7:32 to play. Deuel responded with an 8-1 run to lead 31-25 with 2:00 left, but Schott hit a fielder and Heather Storbakken canned a trey to make it 31-30 with 54 seconds remaining.
Each team had its chances down the stretch but Deuel turned the ball over twice and B-H was whistled for two offensive fouls. The visitors hit a free toss with 9.2 seconds to play and B-H went to the line with 1.1 seconds left but failed to connect.
“We’re getting there,” said Nelson. “Our goal is to just get better by the end of the year and we playk plenty of good competition.”
Schott laced 10 points and Brassfield added eight points and eight rebounds to lead BH.
DEUEL: Jaycee Hourigan 1 12 3, Josie Andersen 7 2-5 17, Graclyn Nielsen 2 1-2 6, Camdyn Peterreins 1 22 4, Morgan Theisen 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 6-11 32.
BRITTON-HECLA: Sterling Brassfield 3 2-4 8, Tiyanna Schott 5 00 10, Addison Wade 3 0-2 6, RaeAnn Hagenson 0 1-2 1, Heather Storbakken 2 0-0 5. Totals 13 3-8 30.
Deuel (2-4) 11 18 23 32 BH (1-3) 5 14 22 30
3-point goals – Andersen, Nielsen; Storbakken. Total fouls – Deuel 14; BH> 16.
