Mike Wolanin | The Republic
HOPE — Hauser picked up an early lead during Tuesday’s girls basketball contest over Oldenburg Academy, but the rest of the game belonged to the Twisters.
Oldenburg used a strong second quarter and kept the momentum going in the second half to defeat the Jets 49-34 on senior night.
“In that first quarter, we played pretty well there. It was 12-4 and Oldenburg got a bucket there at the end,” Hauser coach Chad Evans said. “We weren’t shooting the ball very well at all. The things we worked on against Oldenburg was making sure we make ball fakes, bounce passes and doing the little things right. We didn’t do some of that tonight. Overall, we played hard. We just didn’t play to our normal Hauser basketball.”
The Jets (8-9) got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 12-3 lead in the first quarter. The Twisters scored the final three points of the quarter to only trail 12-6 after one.
In the second quarter, Oldenburg shifted the momentum its way by driving to the basket and then feeding the ball to the open player. It helped the Twisters go on a 13-0 to lead 19-14. Kenze Bostic stopped the run with a free throw with 1:22 left in the second quarter, but Oldenburg picked up a basket with around one minute left to lead 21-15 at the half.
Hauser cut it to within 21-19 in the first minute of the second half with layups from Madelyn Poe and Kyliegh Parrott, respectively. The mini-run by the Jets was short lived as the Twisters hit a couple of 3-point baskets and got a couple second chance opportunities to finished the quarter on a 14-3 run to lead 35-22 heading into the fourth quarter.
Oldenburg made the most of its possessions in the fourth quarter by knocking down its shots to keep Hauser at bay to eventually close out the game.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, and that’s the name of the game sometimes. Sometimes you have those off nights and sometimes you don’t,” Evans said. “It’s nothing that Oldenburg did, we didn’t shoot the ball well, but give them credit, they knocked shots in when they needed to. They shot the ball very well.”
For the Jets, Poe led the way with a 15 points, and Parrott added seven. Ellie Ryan led the Twisters with a game-high 17 points.
“The one thing they can take away from this is giving me that maximum effort. There’s no such thing as 102 or 103%, I just want your maximum effort. The first half, I thought they gave their maximum effort,” Evans said. “We can look at game film and watch it and go from there.”
Before the game, Hauser honored lone senior Gabby Johns.
“She’s just a workhorse. I’m very proud of her,” Evans said. “She’s a very good kid off the court. I’m happy for her family. I’m happy for her. She’s got some more games left in her. Hopefully, we can put our work clothes on and get back at it.”
