Winning the second half was a promising sign for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in its girls' basketball season-opener. But visiting Sioux Central had all but settled the outcome by halftime to hand the Hawks a 67-43 loss on Nov. 22.

H-M-S trailed 7-0 to start the contest and could get no closer than 10-4. Converting scoring opportunities set up by their defense, the Rebels led 24-8 at the end of the first quarter. That trend continued and Sioux Central increased the margin to 44-17 at half time.

The Hawks faced a 32-point deficit late in the third quarter, but outscored the Rebels by eight over the final 10 minutes to narrow the gap to 24 points.

Top scorers for H-M-S were Gracie Knobloch with 15 points, Kylee Schiphoff with 11 and Elise Haack with nine. Abby Douma scored four points and Emily Mutombo and Moriah Otto each added two. Douma was the leading rebounder with three.

Sioux Central's Morgan Christian led all scorers with 24 points. She was also credited with eight of the Rebels' 17 steals.

H-M-S plays at Woodbury Central on Dec. 1 and at Trinity Christian on Dec. 2.