NEW CARLISLE – Urbana was able to play with Tippecanoe for a quarter Tuesday night, but the Red Devils broke the game open after that and cruised to a 77-31 victory in the Division II girls basketball sectional at Tecumseh.
“The first quarter was awesome. We did everything we wanted to do,” UHS Coach Bill Moss said. “We were right with them, and then did nothing the other three quarters.”
The Hillclimbers were sharp from long distance and hustled to force Tippecanoe into a handful of mistakes. And even though Urbana wasn’t flawless, it trailed by just two after the first quarter, 18-16.
The second quarter was a different matter entirely.
Tippecanoe came out on an 8-0 tear to open the frame, and Urbana seemed gassed as the quarter wore on, surrendering buckets inside and committing far more fouls and turnovers than it had in the first.
“Bridget (Ofori) got into foul trouble. Not having Madisyn (Horn) hurt us,” Moss said. “We quit playing. That’s a great team. We were giving them trouble the first quarter – we’ve got to learn to play three more quarters.”
Tippecanoe took a 38-19 lead into the locker room at the intermission and the second half saw the game become even more lopsided, as Ofori and Desi Johnson fouled out in the third.
“We don’t have much depth. We got into foul trouble. They understand, they’ve got to be disciplined,” Moss said. “How many of them were reach-in fouls? We’ve told them for 30 years ‘don’t reach.’ And here they are reaching.”
Senior Hunter Rogan followed her teammates to the bench midway through the fourth quarter when she picked up her fifth foul. She led the Hillclimbers with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“She’s had a good career. She’s a talented kid and I wish her the best,” Moss said. “All our seniors are going to be hard to replace, but I see some bright lights in the program and we’ll just keep plugging away.”
