The last was the first

Down to their final chance to win a War Eagle Conference game, the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn girls' basketball team responded by defeating South O'Brien, 49-33, on Feb. 8 in Hartley. The Hawks finished the regular season at 6-15 overall and 1-9 in the conference.

H-M-S had defeated Harris-Lake Park and Trinity Christian, as well as South O'Brien in the teams' first meeting, but those wins did not count toward the WEC standings.

"We had a couple of other ones that slipped out of our hands," Hawk coach Lester Tessum acknowledged.

A strong finish in the first quarter gave H-M-S a 15-5 lead, which grew to 20-8 by the midpoint of the second quarter. The score was 23-14 at half time.

Two offensive rebounds and a steal early in the third quarter led to six straight points and a 29-14 lead. South O'Brien pulled to within eight, but the Hawks extended the margin to 16 early in the final period.

"The girls stayed aggressive," Tessum noted. "Our defense pretty much carried us the whole game."

Lydia Harders led H-M-S with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Kylee Schiphoff contributed 15 points, five rebounds and four steals; Jasmine Lux had seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks; Gracie Knobloch had seven points and four rebounds; Elise Haack added five rebounds and two steals; Emily Otto also grabbed five rebounds; and Emily Mutombo had three rebounds and three steals.

Tessum was especially happy with the Hawks' offensive execution late in the game. They protected the basketball and scored on several backdoor plays.

"I was pretty proud of them. We took time off the clock and at the same time we were scoring," he said.