By Skip Hunter –

The final game of the regular season pitted the SWC girls against the girls from Hills-Beaver Creek. The Patriots had knocked off the Eagles earlier in the year, and the Eagles were eager for revenge. The win would also give the Eagles a Red Rock Conference title. The Eagles trailed early but persevered to come away with a hard fought 61-53 victory.

It was also parents/senior night at the gym. Seniors Brooklynn Moss, Maren Nerem, Hannah Pap, Makenzie Snyder, Cybil Vander Top, Ella Veldkamp, Mara Fick, and Mikayla Johnson were feted and greeted their parents with flowers and candy. I like to give a special recognition to the managers since much of their work goes unnoticed. Mara and Mikayla do an excellent job of seeing to the players’ and coaches’ needs as well as recording the stats on the Ipad. They will be missed even as much as the players. After Annika Dyk sang the national anthem beautifully, the game was on.

The Eagles scored the first 6 points on treys. Vander Top got the ball to Rylie Fey for the first one, and then Fey found fellow junior Morgan Pap for the second. After an H-BC triple, Nerem picked up some garbage in the lane and scored. Vander Top hit the next trey using a Fey pass to make the score 11-3.

After 5 Patriot points, Fey scored on a fast break using a pass from Vander Top. Vander Top then took a hop, skip, and a jump through the lane to score. H. Pap hit a 10 foot jumper to make the score 17-13. Nerem corralled an offensive rebound after several missed Eagle shot attempts and scored. Later she grabbed another teammate’s missed shot, was fouled on her attempt and made 1 of 2 from the line. The Eagles would have won more handily if not for many missed free throw opportunities.

With 5:54 left in the first half the Patriots tied the score at 20-20. Nerem then scored 4 points on 2 made free throws and a drive to the hoop but H-BC kept pace with 4 points of its own. M. Pap got a deuce using a Fey pass, and then later made 2 of 2 from the charity stripe but when the first half horn sounded, the Eagles trailed 30-28.

The teams traded buckets to open the second half with Nerem using a Veldkamp pass to score. After Vander Top went 1 of 2 from the line, the Patriots scored 7 points to take a 39-31 lead. Veldkamp and Nerem each went 1 of 2 from the line to help the Eagles creep closer. Then H. Pap hit a long deuce using an M. Pap pass to make the score 40-35. H. Pap then answered a Patriot bucket with a drive down the lane for 2 points.