The up and down season for the Festus Girls Varsity Basketball team continued this week. In their lone game of competition, the Lady Tigers fell 65-49 to their crosstown rivals despite hosting the contest. The Hillsboro Hawks used their height advantage and accuracy from the floor to give the Tigers fits, and the loss dropped the home team’s record to 10-10 on the season.
After a quick bus ride, the Hawks, winners of seven of their last eight, came in charged up to take it to their rivals on their home court. That was evidenced by the 14-8 advantage they amassed after just eight minutes of play. Ciara McDonald had a nice quarter with six points on three buckets, but the Tigers were chasing their tails for most of the frame.
They found a spark in the second though, putting up 13 points and figuring out some things on defense as well. They held Hillsboro to just 11 to cut into the lead, making it a reasonable four-point deficit as the half ended. Josie Allen nailed one from downtown and hit one within the arc for a five-point quarter to give Festus a shot in the second half with a 25-21 hill to climb.
After the break, the Tigers ramped up their offense once again, draining 15 points, but the Hawks came out of the locker room on fire. They put up the biggest quarter of the night with 23 points and healthily extended their lead. Allen was big again with another three and another five points, but it held little consequence as it seemed Hillsboro couldn’t miss in the third.
That quarter put the Tigers in a 12-point hole heading into the final frame, and it would be too much to ask of this young squad to make up the difference in just eight minutes. Festus was able to muster 13 more, but the Hawks trumped them again with 17 of their own. The 65-49 final dropped the Tigers back to an even .500 on the season, and had to leave a sour taste in their collective mouths despite a valiant effort.
Allen paced the scoring with 17 points, hitting three of four from downtown, snagging six rebounds and making all four of her free-throw attempts. McDonald was next in line with 12 points, a team high seven boards and three steals, while Elizabeth Skaggs had eight points and three assists. Mya Courtois was the main distributor with four helpers.
The girls will look to get their winning record back next week after a tilt with the St. Louis Christian Knights on Monday. Tip off is at 7 pm in Festus.
