A strong finish

Playing at Gehlen Catholic on Dec. 15, the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn girls’ basketball team finished a stretch of four consecutive road games with a 55-42 win. The Hawks split the four games and earned their first win in War Eagle Conference play.

H-M-S held a four-point lead after one quarter and outscored Gehlen Catholic by seven in the second to take a 28-17 lead. The Hawks’ advantage grew to 41-28 in the second half and they maintained it the rest of the way.

Moriah Otto scored 18 points and Kylee Schiphoff scored 17 to lead H-M-S. Abby Douma scored seven points, Eliza Tewes scored six, Lindsey Van Es scored five and Addison Sheeler added two.

The Hawks made 21-of-60 shots from the floor and 9-of-19 free throws. They committed 17 turnovers.

H-M-S had a big night on the boards with 40 rebounds; 18 of them were on the offensive end. Douma had a team-high 15 rebounds, Schiphoff had seven, Gracie Knobloch and Tewes each had four, and Otto and Sheeler both had three.

Douma blocked six shots, Knobloch had four assists and Frankie Mohni had three.

• “Tough loss” at Akron-Westfield

Hopes of victory did not translate into reality for H-M-S in a conference game on Dec. 12 at Akron-Westfield. The Westerners led from the start and pulled away for a 58-42 win.

H-M-S trailed 10-6 after one quarter and 26-19 at halftime. The Westerners increased their advantage to 12 at the end of the third quarter and built on it the rest of the game.

“It was a tough loss as we had high expectations going into the game,” Hawk coach Ashley Tessum said. “Although we met some of our goals for the game, we needed to be more aggressive on offense and with rebounding.”

Scoring for H-M-S included Otto with 14 points, Schiphoff with eight, Mohni with seven, Douma with six, Van Es with five and Tewes with two. The Hawks made 16-of-43 shots from the floor and turned the ball over 23 times.

Schiphoff grabbed eight rebounds; Douma had six rebounds and five blocks; and Otto had three rebounds. Knobloch dished out six assists and Mohni added four.

Akron-Westfield had three players score in double figures, led by Makenzie Hughes with 21 points.

H-M-S (4-4, 1-2) resumes the schedule with a girls’ only game against Unity Christian on Jan. 4 in Hartley.