South O'Brien built a double-digit lead in the first half but Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn found a way to overcome a cold shooting night to earn a 46-38 win.

H-M-S won the game on Jan. 16 at Paullina despite only making 17-of-71 shots from the floor. The Hawks were also at a disadvantage at the foul line, where they were 5-of-8 compared to South O'Brien which was 11-of-19.

Despite trailing by five points in the first quarter and 22-10 at halftime, H-M-S did not make many significant changes during the intermission.

"We really didn't make any adjustments at halftime. We were taking good shots but they just weren't falling for us," Hawk coach Ashley Tessum said. "The only thing I told the girls that we needed to improve on was rebounding, especially crashing the boards on the weak side. Other than that, I just told them to keep shooting when they were open and that's exactly what they did."

The Hawks did that, and they also rebounded. They finished the night with 49 rebounds, including 26 offensive rebounds.

The Wolverines still led by 12 early in the third quarter. After cutting the lead to four, the Hawks scored 10 straight points to go in front, 32-28. H-M-S led 43-34 with three minutes to play and hung on for the win.

"I'm very proud of the girls for keeping their heads up despite being behind at half and our lack of scoring," Tessum said. "They battled back every second of the second half to come away with the win."

Scoring for H-M-S included Abby Douma with 12 points, Frankie Mohni with 11, Kylee Schiphoff with 10, Gracie Knobloch with seven and Eliza Tewes with six.

Douma finished with 19 rebounds, along with seven blocks and two steals. Moriah Otto contributed nine rebounds, Tewes had six, Mohni had five, and Knobloch and Schiphoff each had three. Knobloch also had four assists; Schiphoff had four blocks and four steals; and Otto had three assists and two steals.

• Middle quarters give H-M-S the win

The Hawks' strong play in the second and third quarters proved to be the difference in a 47-38 win Jan. 19 at West Sioux.

Trailing 9-7 after one quarter, H-M-S finished the first half with a 20-13 lead. The margin grew to 38-25 at the end of the third quarter.

Knobloch led H-M-S with 10 points, Douma and Mohni each scored nine, Schiphoff scored eight, Otto scored six and Lindsey Van Es added five.

Rebounding leaders were Douma with eight, Otto with six, and Knobloch and Schiphoff with four. Douma blocked five shots; Schiphoff had four rebounds, four steals and two blocks; Mohni had four assists and Addison Sheeler had three; and Tewes had two steals.

• Win streak grows to 6

The Hawks' win streak grew to six games as they overcame a 12-point deficit to defeat MMCRU, 45-42, on Jan. 20 in Hartley.

The Royals led by six after four minutes but the Hawks scored the final seven points of the first quarter to go ahead 13-12. The second quarter was marked by three lead changes and two ties, and ended with MMCRU leading 20-19.

H-M-S struggled to make shots in the third quarter and fell behind 32-23. MMCRU led by 12 with seven minutes to play, but Douma and Knobloch combined to force a 38-38 tie. After the teams traded scores, Knobloch put H-M-S in front for good. Otto added two free throws with 12 seconds left to seal the win

Douma finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Knobloch scored 10 points, Schiphoff scored eight, Otto finished with five, and Mohni and Tewes added two.

MIKE PETERSEN/SENTINEL-NEWS

bby Douma scored 11 points during H-M-S's fourth quarter comeback against MMCRU. The Hawks won the game, 45-42.

Schiphoff grabbed seven rebounds and two steals; Otto had six rebounds and two steals; Knobloch had four assists, three rebounds and two steals; and Mohni added three assists and three steals.

H-M-S (10-5, 4-3) will play their next three games at home: Jan. 25 against Boyden-Hull, Jan. 26 against Hinton and Jan. 30 against Harris-Lake Park.