The Harrisburg High School girls basketball team was never able to overcome a furious first quarter run by Hamilton County in its season-ending loss to the Lady Foxes.
Sophomore guard Laci Laughard led the way with 16 points; junior Sarah Scott added 13 and Emma Moreton chipped in with 12 as Hamilton County routed Harrisburg 60-43 to open up the Harrisburg 2A Regional on Monday.
After the Lady Bulldogs scored the game’s first points on a putback bucket by senior Kelsey Piche, Hamilton County began to scorch the nets as it rattled off 10 straight points. The Lady Foxes scored on 12 of their first 14 possessions coming out of the gate.
Harrisburg co-head coaches Denise Clayton and April Horning said the seniors’ final game will be remembered as a tough one.
“Your last high school basketball game is tough to give up. Kids played with a lot of heart, it just wasn’t their night,” Clayton and Horning said. “It’s been a joy to coach them, and we know it’s been tough dealing with new coaches, and they’ve worked hard all year. They’re a classy group that has earned our respect, that’s for sure.”
Senior Molly Berry paced the Lady Bulldogs with 14 points with Piche, a fellow senior, adding nine. Vicky Korschgen added eight.
After an Alexa Morgan bucket cut the Lady Dogs’ deficit to 10-4, HamCo went on a 16-3 run to end the first period. Harrisburg struggled in the first quarter, making only three field goals.
Down by 19 points, the Lady Bulldogs tried to drum up a comeback as three straight buckets from junior Megan Sullivan cut the Lady Foxes’ lead to 10 with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the first half.
The rally ended there as Harrisburg missed a pair of chances to cut its deficit to single digits before Hamilton County scored eight straight points to take a 38-20 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
“We were a little bit nervous. They wanted it so much they were doing things too quickly and that caused some of the mistakes,” said Harrisburg’s co-head coaches.
The Lady Bulldogs end their season with an 8-15 record.
Box Score
HAM 26 12 13 9-60
HBG 7 12 10 13-43
Hamilton County (60): Laughard 6 3-4 16, E. Moreton 5 1-3 12, Anselment 1 0-0 2, Knight 0 2-2 2, York 2 1-2 5, Scott 6 1-2 13, Gay 1 0-0 2, Martin 4 0-1 8. Totals: 25 8-14 60.
Harrisburg (43): Piche 3 3-4 9, Berry 4 6-11 14, Sullivan 3 0-0 6, Morgan 1 0-0 2, Al. Twardowski 1 2-2 4, Korschgen 4 0-0 8. Totals: 16 11-18 43.
