TRAFALGAR — Hauser girls basketball coach Brad Hamilton said that he was 0-1 after Tuesday night’s game at Indian Creek.
“We should not have lost that game, so that one’s on me,” he said. “I take full responsibility for that one. The way I look at it, they’re 6-1 and I’m 0-1. I need to do some work.”
Despite a game-high 19 points from Tori Chandler, the Jets fell behind during the second quarter and never came all the way back, suffering a 48-45 road loss.
Though it never managed a comfortable lead, Indian Creek (4-7) maintained the upper hand from early in the second quarter on, and anytime Hauser (6-2) appeared poised to regain control, the Braves found a way to halt momentum.
Early in the third quarter, the Jets got within one, 25-24, on a pair of Hailey Lange free throws, but Addie Rund answered with a 3-pointer less than a minute later, starting an 8-0 surge that grew the Indian Creek lead to nine. When Hauser crawled closer again during the fourth quarter behind 3-pointers by Chandler and Jada Asher, Stevye Gonzales kept the Jets at arm’s length by making four of four free throws in the last 19.2 seconds to ice it.
Both teams spent a good chunk of the second half at the foul line after a free-flowing first half. Indian Creek made 13 of 19 from the line overall but connected when it mattered most, hitting six of seven in the fourth period.
Hauser was 12 for 21.
Indian Creek had the two biggest runs of the first half but was unable to create any separation, letting Hauser stay in the game by turning the ball over too frequently.
The Braves scored seven consecutive points in the middle of the first quarter, but the Jets finished the period with a 12-11 edge after forcing 10 Indian Creek giveaways. In the second quarter, Hannah Grider and Madelyn Gary each had a pair of buckets during an 11-0 run that spanned nearly five and a half minutes and gave the home club a 22-14 advantage, but Hauser scored six points in the final 1:22 of the half, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Chandler, to go into the break down by just five, 25-20.
Despite the defeat, Hamilton was pleased with his team.
“Overall, I think the effort was pretty good,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do on offense.”
Addie Rund paced Indian Creek with 15 points.
