Hinton girls dish Gehlen 57-46 loss

Hinton's Britni Freed drives against a pair of Gehlen defenders to score on Friday afternoon. The Blackhawks edged the Lady Jays 57-46 at the CNOS Classic in the Tyson Events Center. [Click to enlarge]

Britni Freed poured in 24 points to lift Class 2A No. 13 Hinton over Gehlen Catholic 57-46 Friday afternoon at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.

"I was happy with the win," Hinton's Joel Small said. "The girls are playing with a number on their back - being ranked - and need to work on getting that out of mind and playing [hard] no matter who our opponent."

Gehlen kept things close early as the Blackhawks led just 12-8 after the first quarter and Hinton continued to maintain a 24-21 advantage over the Lady Jays at halftime.

The Blackhawks heated up in the third quarter, netting 21 points to increase their advantage to 45-33.

The Lady Jays fought back throughout the second half, getting as close as five, but Hinton prevailed with the 57-46 win by the final buzzer.

"It was a good ball game and fun for the girls to get to play down in the Tyson atmosphere," Gehlen coach Marty Kurth said. "That was kind of cool for them."

"We handled [Hinton's] press better than we normally handled the press, but we did not shoot extremely well."

Gehlen was just 10-for-21 from the line and 15-for-35 from the field.

"We just did not get enough shots up," Kurth said.

Hinton was 18-for-26 from the line, led by the senior Freed who was 10-for-11.

From the field, the Blackhawks connected on 18-of-47 attempts.

Turnovers was an area of concern for both coaches.

For Kurth, the problem was committing too many turnovers. "We handled [Hinton's] press, so most of [the turnovers] were us throwing them away on unforced things after we broke the press," he said.

But for Small, the problem was not turning the ball over - the Blackhawks committed only nine - but instead failing to turn forced turnovers into easy points. "We forced 28 turnovers but I don't think we capitalized on the turnovers we created," he said.

The Blackhawks also struggled down low as Small said his squad felt Gehlen's interior pressure and missed out on some key offensive rebounds.

"I'd like us to be more aggressive on the boards and more aggressive offensively," he said. Hinton totaled only 19 rebounds in the win.

"Gehlen outrebounded us and that deficit hurt us," Small added.

Gehlen was led on the boards by Lexi Wiltgen with 10 and Rachel Tilley with six. "Our interior defense did a good job for the most part," Kurth said.

Freed - who scored a game-high 24 points in the win - was a key target for Gehlen's defense.

"Early in the game, we did a really good job of handling her presence down low," Kurth said of the Hinton senior. "I give our girls a lot of credit. They played hard and kept fighting back. That's all I can ask."

Small added, "Gehlen had a couple big girls keeping track of Britni but I was really pleased with her effort."

The Lady Jays were led offensively by Kayla Holtgrewe with 13 points. Kayla Hatting contributed 10 while Steph Rohe and Wiltgen each netted five.

For the Blackhawks, Ashton Moody scored 17 points and pulled down six rebounds. Mackenzie Small added 10 points, six assists and four steals while Mallory Thoreson had five rebounds and Abby Hageman added five assists.

Freed added three rebounds, four assists and five steals.

Hinton (9-0) faces West Sioux on the road Tuesday. Gehlen (5-3) hosts Remsen St. Mary's.