TEAM’S TOP SCORER … Amalia Lawson (above) had a team-high 13 points to lead the Eagles to the win at Hilltop in their BBC opener.
PHOTOS BY REBEKAH DELL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
BBC LIDLIFTER … Hilltop’s Sophia Crossgrove gets free inside for two of her 12 points on the night.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
WEST UNITY (December 12, 2025) – Hilltop suffered through a second half dry spell where the Cadets hit just one field goal in 13 minutes, and North Central took full advantage to rebound from a seven-point deficit to record a 41-35 BBC win on opening night of the league season.
“We just kept fighting,” Eagle coach Jamie Brown said after. “We have been fighting for the last three, four games.
“Defense has been good; we just haven’t been able to put it in the basket. We told them at halftime, ‘we’re right here, we just gotta keep going, keep pushing.’ They were ready for it tonight.”
An 11-0 Cadet run in the first quarter vaulted them to a seven-point margin. Two buckets in the paint from Sophia Crossgrove, a Kelsy Connolly three-pointer and Molly Dickinson’s bucket off a steal gave Hilltop an 11-4 lead.
A Cailyn Meyers steal and score to end the first, then another to begin the second brought the Eagles back to 11-8, and after Dickinson’s three-point play, Ava Gruber stuck a triple and Meyers hit 2-2 from the stripe to get North Central within 14-13 with 2:42 left in the half.
Freshman Nayah Rodriguez accounted for six straight Cadet points to finish the half on a bucket off a turnover, a dish to Crossgrove for two more, then a putback with 1:19 to go, to regain a 20-13 margin at the break.
All of a sudden, the well went dry for Hilltop and North Central chipped away. Meyers’ consecutive hoops to start the third, along with one from Gruber on an out-of-bounds play brought the Eagles back to a 20-19 deficit with 2:45 left.
Then Mia Lawson nailed a three-ball to put the Eagles on top for good with 2:11 on the clock. “Last year and this year, those two have been our two leading scorers,” Brown said of Meyers and Lawson.
“Meyers came back as a junior last year and this year she’s, our leader. That girl averages 32 minutes a game, she doesn’t come out of the game, she gets breaks at timeouts and halftime.”
“Mia’s our shooter, she’s our best shooter on the team and when she’s on, she’s on and I try not to hold her back.”
Two more Gruber hoops pushed the Eagles up 26-23 heading into the fourth. While Hilltop remained in a 1-10 shooting funk with seven turnovers, Lawson and Tessa Reyome nailed back-to-back triples within past the halfway point of the fourth to give North Central their largest lead at 36-25.
Connolly’s two late three-pointers only made the final margin tighter. Lawson got all of her game high 13 points in the second half. Meyers added 12 for North Central (2-5, 1-0 BBC).
Crossgrove had 12 to pace Hilltop (2-5, 0-1 BBC) and Dickinson added 10.
N. CENTRAL (41) – Myers 12; Burt 2; Groves 0; Reyome 3; Turner 9; Lawson 13; Gruber 0; Burger 2; Totals: 11-5-4 – 41
HILLTOP (35) – L. Rodriguez 0; Dickinson 10; Routt 0; N. Rodriguez 4; Nofziger 0; Connolly 9; Crossgrove 12; Totals: 9-3-8 – 35
NCHS 6 7 13 15 – 41
HHS 11 9 3 12 – 35