With the game on the line, Hitchcock-Tulare took Aberdeen Christian out of its comfort zone at the Aberdeen Civic Arena Monday night.
The Patriots held Christian scoreless in the fourth quarter until the closing seconds to secure a 41-32 non-conference girls’ basketball win. The visitors stymied the Knights with defense and then repeatedly hurt them by grabbing offensive rebounds at the other end of the floor.
“Aberdeen Christian played really well tonight. They hit a lot of shots early on. They got their confidence going,” said Hitchcock-Tulare coach Kristi Smith. “I felt our defense, we finally figured things out in the fourth quarter. We were able to get a couple of stops in a row and really crash those offensive boards, and that helped a lot.”
Christian hung right with the Patriots for the majority of the contest, trailing by just two points at the half. That’s when Hitchcock-Tulare made an adjustment.
Junior Katelyn Schroeder said the squad talked about a change on defense.
“We went into halftime and we talked, we were like our press really isn’t working. We’re just pressuring them to shoot these shots and they’re going in, so we took them back to half (court) and we made them set up something,” Schroeder said. “And I just think making them set up something like that, we just worked on defense and just talked with each other, and that’s really what worked out.”
The result was just eight points in the final 16 minutes for the Knights.
“I feel like we just get a little sloppy in the fourth quarter. Their defense was pretty good,” said Christian senior Chloe Holt. “We were just kind of looking to get low and it was hard to get low. They did a good job getting their arms in the passing lanes.”
Just as big of an issue was Hitchcock-Tulare’s ability to get offensive rebound after offensive rebound down the stretch.
“A couple of times they had I don’t know, five or six chances,” said Knights coach Cristian Martinez. “There’s not much you can do. We don’t do the boxing out correctly and we don’t get position, so those things happen.”
The Patriots have five players who stand 5-foot-11 or taller, so that size advantage also played a key role.
“Not only me being a tall player, I feel like we have a lot of tall players, we saw that in our volleyball season,” Schroeder said, “and just using our ability with our height and our strengths, really rebounding is what keeps us in our games.”
Martinez felt fatigue hindered his team down the stretch as well.
“When we have those close games, my routine is just six players right now and played 32 minutes most of them,” Martinez said. “Energy is the number one. We’re getting tired. That’s why those passes are not coming as strong.”
And while the Knights were getting a bit more passive, the Patriots were just the opposite.
“(They were) definitely more aggressive,” Holt said, “and we struggled to box out as a whole, so that killed us.”
Schroeder finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Patriots (6-13). Cambree Hoekman added 11.
Smith said it was beneficial to finish off a game as her team prepares for the postseason.
“We definitely needed this win, especially heading into our postseason play,” Smith said. “We’ve lost quite a few close games this year, so we’ve been in this situation before, so it was nice to kind of pull away in that fourth quarter and kind of have everything come together.”
Chloe Bosma had 10 points to lead a balanced Christian attack. The Knights (2-16) received six points each from Payton Skarin, Sophia Fogarty and Holt.
Christian, which plays at Langford Area tonight, honored four seniors before the contest: Bosma, Holt, Fogarty and Bailey Hunstad.
“I’ve got four seniors that are not going to be here next year,” Martinez said, “so it’s going to be empty space.”
HITCHCOCK-TULARE (6-13): Katelyn Schroeder 6 3-8 16, Isabel Gilbert 2 1-5 5, Gracyn Bixler 2 0-0 4, Rebecca Huizenga 0 0-2 0, Cambree Hoekman 5 0-0 11, Emmerie Arthurs 2 1-2 5. Totals 17 5-17 41.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (2-16): Payton Skarin 1 4-4 6, Jolie Fogarty 2 0-4 4, Sophia Fogarty 2 2-4 6, Chloe Holt 2 1-2 6, Chloe Bosma 5 0-0 10. Totals 12 7-14 32.
Hitchcock-Tulare 10 26 34 41
Aberdeen Christian 9 24 30 32
3-point field goals – Schroeder, Hoekman; Holt. Fouled out – Hoekman. Total fouls – Hitchcock-Tulare 17; Aberdeen Christian 16. Rebounds – Hitchcock-Tulare 42 (Schroeder 10, Gilbert 9); Aberdeen Christian 37 (J. Fogarty 10). Turnovers – Hitchcock-Tulare 11; Aberdeen Christian 22.
