Hinton defeats Le Mars in championship

(Sentinel photo by Jesse Geleynse) Hinton's Brianna Babcock puts up a shot against Sioux City East Friday night at the Hy-Vee Tournament in Le Mars. The Blackhawks avenged losses to the Black Raiders from the previous two years with the 69-43 win. [Click to enlarge]

It was only the second game of the season, but it was a tournament victory Britni Freed wanted to savor.

As her teammates filtered away from the post-game photo session following Hinton's 57-47 victory over host Le Mars in the championship game of the 10th Annual Hy-Vee Tournament, Freed held Hinton's first-place trophy aloft as she continued to pose with whomever she could find.

"It's great to know that we finally did it, since it's my senior year," she said. "It's an accomplishment. It feels so good."

(Sentinel photo by Jesse Geleynse) Le Mars' Jess Arnold makes a block for the Lady 'Dogs in Saturday's championship game against Hinton. [Click to enlarge]

With the victory, the Blackhawks put an end to two years of Hy-Vee Tournament frustration and improved to 2-0 on the young season.

"It shows how good we should be and how we need to live up to our potential," she said.

Freed led the Blackhawks with 19 points and nine rebounds in the final. She finished with 45 points and 18 rebounds for the two-day tournament to earn a place on the All-Tournament team.

"I thought Britni had a heck of a tournament," Hinton coach Joel Small said. "She's got an offensive mindset. She can dominate a game inside if she wants to."

Teammate Mackenzie Small was also named to the All-Tournament team as she finished 31 points and 18 assists for the weekend. Her efforts included a 14-point, 11-assist performance in the title game in what Joel Small said was the Blackhawks' first double-digit assist tally in several years.

"It's good for our confidence," Small said of the victory. "We're happy to play against some good competition."

Senior guard Abby Hageman scored nine points in her second game back from an ACL injury last season and sophomore Ashton Moody added nine in an evening ultimately cut short by foul trouble.

"It was great to see Abby score," Small said, "[and] I see some good things down the road for [Moody]."

In the title contest, Hinton faced a Le Mars squad fresh off a come-from-behind, first-round victory over Rock Valley and the Lady Bulldogs didn't show any letdown.

The teams were knotted at 17-17 after the first quarter as Hinton's full-court trap proved effective only at getting the Blackhawks into foul trouble.

"That kind of took us out of our rhythm," Small said. "Le Mars did a good job breaking the press. Add to that the foul trouble and it was getting to be a tight game."

Hinton abandoned the trap in favor of a 2-3 zone and Mackenzie Small scored eight of her 14 points in the second quarter as the Blackhawks led 32-25 at the half.

"They were well-prepared to play us," Small said. "They were patient and they made a game of it. I was hoping we could have played a little bit better."

Le Mars' Emily Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 3:03 to play in the third quarter to make it 38-34, but the Lady Bulldogs would get no closer the rest of the way.

"I think we're real happy with our effort tonight," said Le Mars coach Barry Borchers. "From game one to game three we made a tremendous amount of improvement.

"Hinton ran their press like they normally do and I think we handled and it disappeared and they never went back to it," continued Borchers, whose squad dropped to 1-2 on the season. "We feel real good about that part of it, as well."

Anderson led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. Erica Westhoff had nine points and Alyssa Louison and Jess Arnold each added eight.

Only five-foot-four, the diminutive Louison added five rebounds while playing the post position for Le Mars.

"She rebounds like she's six-feet tall," Borchers said. "You can see her having a whole lot of fun out there. Her defensive intensity is good. She's doing everything you want a senior to be doing and we couldn't be happier for her."

Hinton resumes play tonight at River Valley. Le Mars opens conference play at Cherokee on Friday.

"We have always felt like this tournament has always made us better for getting into our conference games," Borchers said. "A win [Friday] night helped our confidence, obviously, and so did playing well against [Hinton] … We're going into conference play and we feel like we're going to be well-prepared for that."

Semifinal Game 1: Hinton 69, Sioux City East 43

The Hinton Blackhawks wasted little time avenging consecutive first-round Hy-Vee Tournament defeats to Sioux City East as they defeated the Black Raiders 69-43 in semifinal action Friday night at Carey Gymnasium.

"They got us the last couple years and it was good to get one back," Joel Small said. "It's nice to beat a bigger school like East and know we can compete."

Freed scored a game-high 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead Hinton, which sent two-time defending champion East into the consolation game.

"We were really happy to win," said Mackenzie Small, who added 17 points, seven assists and seven steals. "We didn't play our best but we came out on top. It really boosts our confidence knowing we can play with the bigger schools."

The Blackhawks used a smothering full-court trap to open up a 32-21 halftime lead as they held the Black Raiders to a single field goal in the second quarter, which came with less than a minute remaining in the half.

"We like playing full-speed, press basketball," Mackenzie Small said. "We like putting lots of pressure on the guards."

Hinton forced East into 14 first-half turnovers and held the Black Raiders to just 6-of-30 shooting from the field in the first 16 minutes.

"We're an up-tempo team," Joel Small said. "Our best offense is moving the ball up and down the floor, trying to create turnovers. If we never have to be in a half-court set, then we won't."

Hageman had little trouble when East countered with a trap of its own. Still, ball-handling is something Coach Small wants cleaned up as the Blackhawks committed 22 turnovers of their own.

"I knew it wasn't going to be our prettiest game in the world because I know East presses too," he said. "Coming out of the gate against that kind of pressing team - we just need to settle down and run our plays, run our press break and I think we adjusted all right.

"That will come," he continued. "I think we had a little bit of first game jitters here tonight. We have some quality ball-handlers, we just have to take care of it. We just have to handle the ball. I preach and preach and preach that you need to value each possession you have."

The third quarter saw Hinton extend its lead as they continued to feed the ball to Freed, taking advantage of the size mismatch inside. With East post Erin Kiel out with foul trouble, Freed scored eight third-quarter points as the Blackhawks closed the quarter on a 10-3 run to extend their lead to 20.

"We played decent defense," Joel Small said. "Our rebounding has to improve, but defensively…we'll take (allowing 43 points)."

Moody added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Blackhawks, who lost 71-68 to East in last season's Hy-Vee Tournament semifinal.

"We feel good about that heading into tomorrow night," Joel Small said. "It was a good win against a quality opponent."

Semifinal Game 2: Le Mars 50, Rock Valley 42

Someone had to step up.

With the Rock Valley Rockets leading the Le Mars Lady Bulldogs 25-22 in a sluggish stalemate of a semifinal with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter, Anderson decided it had to be her.

The headband-sporting sophomore pulled up from behind the 3-point arc and connected to tie the contest at 25. A minute later, she added a second to give the Lady Bulldogs their first lead since the opening quarter at 28-26 and Le Mars never trailed again as the host Lady 'Dogs defeated Rock Valley 50-42 in a semifinal contest in the annual Hy-Vee Tournament on Friday at Carey Gymnasium.

"Everybody was pretty pumped and I was just feeding off of everybody else," said a visibly-exhausted Anderson who had to sit for her interview. "We were vibing pretty good I guess."

Anderson finished with a game-high 13 points. Louison had 10 points and six rebounds and Tara Lehner added six points and nine rebounds as the Lady Bulldogs (1-1) got their first win of the season.

"It wasn't perfect by any means, but a win is a win," said Borchers, who seemed relieved to get the first victory out of the way after a season-opening loss 62-40 loss at Storm Lake on Tuesday.

"[This win] helps so much," Anderson said. "Everybody's in a way better mood and we're just ready for the next game. It did a lot for us - it was good."

Anderson's strong third quarter helped the Bulldogs turn a 23-20 halftime deficit into a 37-30 lead after three quarters.

"We hit some big shots that kind of gave us some confidence and momentum," Borchers said. "We came out of the locker room at halftime and made a few adjustments to what we were doing offensively and we really had a great defensive half, too."

The Lady Bulldogs' defense held the Rockets to just seven third-quarter points. Le Mars stretched its lead to as many as 11 in the fourth quarter before Rock Valley hit several shots in the final minute to give the contest its final score.

Le Mars' 17 third-quarter points helped them overcome a slow first half. Borchers said he knew his team would have to be ready for a much quicker pace in the championship game against a run-and-gun Hinton squad.

"Hinton is a very good team," he said. "We better be ready to handle pressure and be able to move without the basketball because if you don't, they're going to be steal and run away for the lay-up."

The Lady Bulldogs forced 30 Rock Valley turnovers while committing 21.