Triad hoops falter against Eagles, Midgets
Savannah Hildebrand drives up court during a home court.
By Anthony Jones
sports.times.tribune@gmail.com
Last week provided another pair of challenging contests for the Lady Knights basketball squad.
Their first battle of the week came on Dec. 5, when they visited the Freeburg Midgets. Freeburg entered the evening with a 3-4 record and Triad sat at 1-5.
The first few minutes of action saw a balanced start, with the Midgets ahead 6-4 halfway through the first.
But the home team quickly caught momentum, going on an 11-0 run to lead 17-4 in the second quarter. A subsequent 13-5 run for Freeburg expanded their advantage to 30-9 at the intermission.
Triad’s offensive and defensive results improved in the second half, but they still found their deficit expanding after being outscored 22-14 in the later half. The night’s final score was 52-23 in favor of the hosts.
Sam Hartoin led the Lady Knights with 6 points, all coming from inside the arc.
Three days later, the team made another road trip. Their destination, Bethalto, featured a 6-2 Civic Memorial team on a 5 game win streak.
The first three and a half minutes saw five total points, with Delaney Hess scoring to pull Triad within 3-2. Civic Memorial rolled for the remainder of the first, expanding their lead to 10-2.
In the second frame, both offenses started slow again. Both teams tallied two points in the first five minutes, nudging the score out to 12-4.
Once again, the home side closed out in dominant fashion. The high scoring Eagles finished on a 7-1 run to take a 19-5 lead into the break.
The lone basket of the first four minutes of the second half came from Triad’s Makenna Witham. Another Witham basket and a corner three from Savannah Hildebrand fueled the Lady Knights to outscore their foe 7-6 in the third frame.
Civic Memorial once again bested Triad in the fourth, doing so in 16-14 fashion. A 41-26 loss dropped the Lady Knights to 1-7 on the year and 1-3 in conference play.
Hildebrand led Triad’s scoring efforts, finishing with 11 points after converting three times from deep. Maddie Hunt provided seven more points in the effort.
