Madelyn Poe
HOPE — What seemed like an easy double-digit win for Hauser turned into a huge battle toward the end of the game.
The Jets almost let the game slip away after leading by double digits early in the fourth quarter, but Hauser locked in to close the game in the final minute to edge out a 65-58 victory over visiting South Dearborn on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a good learning experience,” Hauser coach Kyle Shipp said. “Learning how to win is always tough. They want to win really bad, too, and they want to fight and claw, and I think that’s what the moral of the story is in this game.”
In the second half, the Jets (6-4) let the Knights (1-11) stay around by allowing easy looks at the basket, and their own shooting woes and turnovers let South Dearborn back in it. After trailing 52-39 to start the fourth quarter, South Dearborn took the lead at 58-56 with 2:10 remaining before Hauser scored the remaining nine points to close out the victory.
“It was like at the start of the fourth quarter, we felt like we had the game won already, and they did a great job of battling back, and then we found ourselves in a dogfight,” Shipp said. “We had to make a couple plays down the stretch to turn a pretty easy victory into a something we had to work for.”
Balanced scoring was the key for the Jets in the first half. Seven different players got into the scoring column as they built a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The led 40-28 at the half.
“I thought we passed the ball really well. I thought we attacked the rim out of their zone. I thought we attacked the rim hard on their man-to-man. We were finding open people on drop downs and on kicks,” Shipp said. “The ball was moving. The ball was going in the basket. We talked more about defense in the second half. We thought we’d come out and play better defense in the second half, but we were a little stagnant. The first half was a very good offensive display. You score 40 points in a half, you feel like you’ve got the ball going through the basket pretty consistently.
Madelyn Poe finished with a game-high 21 points for Hauser. Kyliegh Parrott finished with 13, and Kenze Bostic added 11.
Hauser 65, South Dearborn 58
South Dearborn;15;13;11;19;—;58
Hauser;22;18;12;13;—;65
South Dearborn (1-11): Dixon 1 1-2 4, Vincent 3 4-6 10, Cantrell 5 5-5 16, Messmore 3 0-0 6, Rupp 6 1-1 13, Wisman 2 0-0 4, Heizer 1 0-0 3, Lagaly 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 11-14 58.
Hauser (6-4): Kyliegh Parrott 4 5-6 13, Norah Berkenstock 1 2-4 4, Bella Kilps 2 2-2 6, Erykah Everroad 0 0-0 0, Adrianna Musillami 3 2-6 8, Kenze Bostic 4 3-4 11, Madelyn Poe 7 5-5 21, Jaden Sims 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 19-27 65.
3-point goals: South Dearborn 3 (Dixon, Cantrell, Heizer); Hauser 2 (Poe 2).
