By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
HILLBORO – The 2021-22 basketball season came to an end on Monday for the Moundridge girls as they stumbled in the first round of their Class 2A sub-state tournament with a humbling 50-27 loss to Hillsboro.
With the loss, the Lady Wildcats close out their 2021-22 season with a final record of 12-9.
“It is never easy when a season ends,” noted Lady Wildcat head coach Kaleigh Huxman. “It is especially hard when you do not feel like the other team got your teams best effort. Hillsboro took the lead early and had complete control for the rest of the game.”
Hillsboro began the game going on a 7-0 run and never looked back, holding the Lady Wildcats to just a pair of first quarter points to lead 15-2, then building the Moundridge deficit to 25, 33-8, by the time the teams landed at the halftime break.
After pushing their lead out to 47-16 at the end of the third quarter, Hillsboro’s offense went into cruise and finished off the Lady Wildcats with the final 23-point win.
Kate Eichelberger finished out her outstanding career as a Lady Wildcat by leading the team in scoring with nine points. Emma Blough also finished her high school career and hit for five points.
Coach Huxman concluded her post-game reflections by adding, “I am so thankful I had the opportunity to coach this group of girls this season. I could not have asked for a better group of young ladies. We are sure going to miss our seniors, Kate (Eichelberger) and Emma (Blough), they have given so much to our school and basketball program over the last four years. We will return all our guards and Reese Schmidt. I look forward to working with this group this summer and next season, GO CATS!”
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
LADY WILDCATS 2 6 8 11 27
Hillsboro 15 18 14 3 50
No Team Stats Available.
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS SCORING LEADERS (27 total points): Kate Eichelberger – 9; Emma Blough – 5; Kindall Elmore – 5; Emily Durst – 5; Kaelyn Wedel – 3. 3-Pointers Made (3): Blough, Elmore, Durst – 1.