From the get go of the contest Friday night, the Hilltop Lady Cadets took control of the game against the Eagles of North Central and would go on to take the victory by a score of 49-34.
The first quarter saw the Cadets jump out to a 16-5 lead, partially to do with the outstanding play of Hannan Bleikamp who would go on to score 22 points in the contest for Hilltop. Both teams would duplicate their first quarter scores in the second quarter, giving Hilltop a 32-10 lead as the teams went in to the locker rooms for halftime.
The Eagles would outscore the Cadets 12-7 in the third quarter, and 12-10 in the fourth and final quarter, but it would not be enough to overcome the deficit that they had fallen in to in the first half.
The Cadets were 19 of 56 on field goals in the contest for a shooting percentage of 34%. The Eagles would only be able to make 11 out of the 41 shots that they attempted, for a shooting percentage of 27%.
Hilltop also controlled the boards, out-rebounding the Eagles 22-17 on the night.
Scoring for the Cadets was lead by Bleikamp who scored a whopping 22 points, Emily Armbruster followed with 15, Kayla Settlemire contributed six on the night, and LeAnn Joost, Cierra Grant, and Bailey Funkhouser all had two points.
Two players lead the way for the Eagles of North Central, as Cady Vandevarde and Sabrina Pickford both were able to reach double digits and scored 11 points. Rachel Oxender had four points, Hannah Seikmeyer and Julia Rhinard both put up three, and Abbey Litzenberg scored two.
-Mitchell Peebles