HARRISBURG – The visiting Huron Tigers girls gave second-ranked Harrisburg a scare early, but the shooting couldn’t keep up as Harrisburg won 68-51 Tuesday in Harrisburg.
The visitors were able to bounce back from an early 5-0 deficit as Hamtyn Heinz scored eight first-quarter points to push Huron ahead by as many as seven points at 16-9.
Coach Tim Buddenhagen was pleased with how his Huron team started out.
“The first 12 minutes I thought we played a good game,” Buddenhagen noted. “We looked like a good basketball team.”
The Harrisburg run was coming, and while the pace of the game continued to be fast, the Huron shooting could not keep up its early pace while the home club began to hit from deep.
Harrisburg nailed five three-point baskets in the second frame as they outscored the visitors 19-7 in the quarter to take a 33-23 halftime lead.
Brecli Honner nailed the first two shots of the second half to put Harrisburg up by 15 points, and the home team didn’t look back from that point. Huron made a few runs, but the strong shooting, especially from the outside, of the entire Harrisburg club made it tough to close any ground.
A tightly-called ballgame came to a head in the fourth quarter as fouls brought the once quickly-moving game to a crawl in pace. Huron coach Tim Buddenhagen boiled over as Harrisburg made yet another trip to the free-throw line, drawing a technical foul.
Both teams emptied their benches with 3:38 left in the game, and Harrisburg finished off a 68-51 win.
Honner led Harrisburg to a 17-2 record with 23 points. Sydney Altenburg pitched in 13 points.
Huron fell to 10-9 on the year with the loss. Isabelle Ellwein led Huron with 12 points off the bench. Hamtyn Heinz pitched in 10 points.
Harrisburg swept the preliminary games, taking the junior varsity game 51-48 and the “C” game 43-38. In the C game, Huron was led by Kiki Eagle Star with 12 points.
Buddenhagen says while this was a tough game to take, it is a good learning experience as the team looks ahead to the postseason.
“We learned a lot from this game,” Buddenhagen remarked. “We are going to have to start getting some early breaks. When we were fresh, we were good, but we got tired quick.”
The Tigers girls close out the season Thursday in Watertown.
