Moving on up

After winning just six War Eagle Conference girls' basketball games during the previous three seasons, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn finished 2023-24 with a 6-4 record. The final win came on Feb. 6 in Hartley, as H-M-S defeated South O'Brien, 56-39.

The Hawks led 13-9 after the first quarter and by seven early in the second. After the Wolverines narrowed the margin to four, Moriah Otto made a basket and Kylee Schiphoff hit a three-pointer to make the halftime score 22-13.

"I am very proud of how the girls played," Hawk coach Ashley Tessum said. "Adjusting our defense early in the game from zone to man really made a big difference in keeping their points at minimum during the first half."

H-M-S's lead grew to 16 points after consecutive baskets by Abby Douma. South O'Brien answered with a 10-0 run but they would get no closer. The Hawks led 42-31 at the end of the third quarter and extended it to 19 early in the final period.

"We had really good patience on offense during the second half. The girls did a good job moving the ball around, looking for the best opportunity to score," Tessum noted. "The win was a great team effort to end the regular season."

Scoring leaders were Gracie Knobloch with 14 points, Schiphoff with 12 and Otto with 11. Douma finished with eight points, Eliza Tewes scored seven, Frankie Mohni made a three-pointer and Addison Sheeler added a free throw.

Otto grabbed 14 rebounds; Douma had nine rebounds and six blocks; Mohni had six rebounds, three assists and two steals; Schiphoff had four rebounds and three steals; and Lindsey Van Es finished with four rebounds.

Leading scorer for South O'Brien was Reese Farquhar with eight points.

The Hawks finished the regular season by winning nine of 12 games since the holiday break.