PEKIN — The Providence girls’ basketball squad advanced to the Class 2A Eastern Sectional semifinal against Paoli with a gritty, 40-31 win over Henryville Tuesday.

It may not have been a thing of beauty, but Providence coach Brad Burden’s squad notched the win by doing two of three things the coach said is important to win basketball games. They outrebounded the Hornets (13-10) 31-18, and clamped down defensively, holding them to 9-44 (20 percent) shooting from the field.

“We didn’t take care of the ball that well,” said Burden, whose squad committed 20 turnovers. “But we’ve not been a very good free-throw shooting team this year, and I was proud of the way the girls came together and sank their free throws down the stretch. That was what won the game.”

The game was very tight throughout, but Providence led 12-8 after the first quarter after making 4-of-6 3-point attempts during the first eight minutes of play. The Pioneers (9-12) led 18-15 at the half after Henryville’s Jasmine Harrell rimmed out a 3-point attempt at the first-half buzzer.

The Hornets hung in there and found some success under the basket with 5-10 center Jenna Harrell leading the way. Harrell scored six consecutive Henryville points and gave the Hornets the lead, 20-19, after they scored in close over a couple of Providence defenders with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Henryville would lead again, 26-25, after a 3-pointer from guard Chelsea LaMotte with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Two free throws from Mary Graf gave the Pioneers the lead for good on Providence’s next possession.

The Pioneers held a 28-26 lead at the end of the third quarter. But maybe more importantly, they held an edge on fouls over Henryville, 9-2, heading into the fourth quarter. And Providence took advantage. Aside from a putback basket by Alex Stiner early in the fourth quarter, all of Providence’s points came from the free-throw line.

The Pioneers were 10-10 in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe and controlled the matchup throughout the fourth quarter.

“I think they were 19-21 from the free-throw line in the second half, and it is hard to compete when another team is able to do that,” Henryville coach Josh Conrad said. “I don’t know if they did a good job, or we did a bad job, but that was the big difference tonight.”

Conrad’s squad says goodbye to four seniors in Allison Knox, Sarah Richey, Hannah Gilstrap and Harrell, who led the Hornets with 10 points.

“These are girls who have been good role models for the community and have meant so much to our basketball program,” Conrad said. “We are going to miss them for sure.”

Mary Graf led the Pioneers with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and was one of four Providence players who had at least six rebounds. Leah White added 11 points for Providence.

The Pioneers face a stout opponent in No. 15 Paoli Friday night.

“The problem with playing a game like we did tonight is that every turnover is magnified,” Burden said. “Credit Henryville with being aggressive on us — we’ll go back to work tomorrow and get ready for Friday.”

Henryville won on its Senior Night over visiting Rock Creek Community Academy, 68-17. The Lions’ 17 points were the fewest scored by a Hornet opponent this season.

Senior Jenna Harrell paced Henryville (13-9) with a game-high 15 points. Hornet senior guard Allison Knox chipped in 10, while junior Jasmine Harrell added eight.

After leading 19-8 after the opening quarter, Henryville blanked Rock Creek (1-19) in the second period 15-0 to take a 34-8 advantage at intermission.

Visiting Henryville improved to 12-9 with a 44-26 triumph at Shawe Memorial in Madison.

Jenna Harrell paced the Hornets with a game-high 16 points. Senior Allison Knox poured in 11.

“The first half we did a good job applying full-court pressure and pushing the ball up the court,” Henryville head coach Josh Conrad said. “The second half we switched things up defensively and tried to work some covers out of our zone. We did a good job moving the basketball and getting it inside.”

Southwestern raced out to a 21-12 lead after one quarter and survived a back-and-forth affair to defeat host Henryville, 52-42.

“I am proud of the way our girls competed tonight,” Henryville coach Josh Conrad said. “We did a much better job fighting back throughout the game. Southwestern had a few seven- to 10-point leads where we fought back to tie it up. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Hannah Gilstrap led the Hornets with 16 points. Allison Knox poured in 11, while Jenna Harrell scored 10.

For Southwestern, Sydney McKinley scored a game-high 21 points, while Brandi Ponder added 18.

“Ponder and McKinley are two good high school players that came out ready to play scoring 16 of their teams 21 points in the first quarter,” Conrad added. “After that, I thought we did a very good job containing them outside of a few possessions.”

Class 2A No. 3 Eastern snapped a two-game losing streak, winning at Henryville 60-32.

Jenna Harrell led the Hornets (11-8) with 10 points. Teammate Hannah Gilstrap scored six.

“We only attacked the basket in the early minutes of the game,” Henryville head coach Josh Conrad said. “After that, it seemed like we were making running passes, which led to turnovers that sparked their offense. We really struggled offensively putting ourselves in a position to make a play. On another note, Eastern is a good team that created a lot of those mistakes.”

Henryville bolted out to a 12-2 lead after the first quarter and a 23-7 advantage at halftime to defeat host Clarksville, 45-28.

Senior forward Jenna Harrell led the Hornets (11-7) with 14 points. Henryville senior Allison Knox chipped in 10, while teammate Jasmine Harrell scored seven.

The Generals’ Kierstin Hall and Darian Holmes each tallied eight points.

“All in all, we’ve got to learn to put the ball in the hole,” Clarksville head coach B.D. Ledbetter said. “That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Leading 28-27, host Henryville outscored Orleans 18-4 in the final quarter to win for the fourth time in five games, 46-31.

“It was a nice game for us because defensively we finished strong,” Hornets’ head coach Josh Conrad said. “The end of the third and the entire fourth quarter, we played more active defensively and that helped get the lead. Our defense helped us get moving offensively.”

Three Henryville players scored in double digits. Senior Jenna Harrell tallied 13 points, fellow senior Allison Knox chipped in 12 and junior Hannah Gilstrap poured in 10.

Knox reached a milestone by eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in her Hornet career.

“She has worked extremely hard and has been a good player for our program for four seasons,” Conrad said.

BORDEN — Borden’s girls’ basketball team beat Henryville 48-35 Thursday to clinch a share of its first Southern Athletic Conference championship in 10 years.

The Braves (10-5, 4-0 SAC) will wait to celebrate after facing South Central on Saturday, Jan. 28. The Rebels, who have dominated the SAC over the last decade, are 2-1 in the league and could still tie Borden for the conference title.

“We’re very excited, but we can’t take anything for granted because we still have to play South Central,” Borden senior Allison Rademacher said. “It would mean a lot to win it outright.”

“It’s a big deal to go 5-0,” Braves’ senior Erin Mikel said.

On Thursday, Borden scored six first-quarter points and the Braves took advantage of early foul trouble for Allison Knox and Hannah Gilstrap to take an 11-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. Gilstrap finished with five points, and Knox — Henryville’s leading scorer — finished with just three before fouling out with 5:33 left in regulation.

The Hornets’ Chelsea LaMotte filled in and hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter and a bucket in the second for five first-half points. But Borden outscored the Hornets 12-10 in the second quarter to take a 23-15 halftime lead.

“LaMotte played pretty well and picked up some slack, but (Knox and Gilstrap) are two tough ones to lose for a quarter and a half,” Hornets coach Josh Conrad said.

Allison Bishop scored four points, and Mikel and Shelby Kirchgessner each hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter for Borden. The key, however, was the Braves’ strong defense and rebounding in the first half.

“We’ve been very active defensively and making it difficult for people to score,” Borden coach Terry Rademacher said. “And we’ve followed it up with good rebounding. Defense and rebounding what has been getting us off to good starts.”

“We came out with a good start,” Allison Rademacher said. “That’s what got us going. Sometimes we have come out with slow starts and had to get things going.”

Mikel scored six more points in the third quarter and Rademacher hit a 10-footer at the buzzer to give the Braves a 38-24 lead after three quarters. After Jenna Harrell hit a layup to open the final quarter, Mikel scored the next six points and Borden led 44-26.

Mikel finished with a game-high 22 points.

“I’m not worried about myself,” Mikel said. “I don’t care how much I score as long as we’re on top at the end.”

“She’s a very good player,” Terry Rademacher said. “She has very good poise when she receives the ball. She’s analytical in her moves. She has a good feel for the game.”

“Borden is a good team and Mikel is a very good player,” Conrad said. “She just doesn’t make any mistakes.”

Borden reached double-figure wins for the third time in four seasons with the victory.

“I though we played good as a team,” Mikel said. “We played hard and we played well together.”

Henryville (9-7, 3-2 SAC), which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end Thursday, was led by Jasmine Harrell’s 14 points.

“We just weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be,” Conrad said. “We didn’t attack the basket as well as we needed to.”

Henryville didn’t score a lot of points, but it didn’t need to in a 39-26 road victory over Christian Academy of Indiana.

“It was a very physical, aggressive game,” CAI boss Emy Lorigan said.

Jenna Harrell led the Hornets with 15 points, followed by teammate Allison Knox with 11 points.

Stephanie Combs was the sole Warrior in double figures with 15 points.

CROTHERSVILLE — Coach Kevin Hensley says he isn’t sure why his Crothersville Lady Tigers basketball team can’t seem to get its offense going at the start of a game and keep it going.

On Tuesday night, Jessica Madden worked her way into the lane and put up a shot to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead with the game only 10 seconds old.

Hensley then saw his team revert back to old habits of turning the ball over and missing shots, and Henryville claimed a 43-23 Southern Athletic Conference victory.

Crothersville missed its final six shots from the floor in the opening period to go along with 13 turnovers, and the Tigers trailed 7-2 entering the second period.

“(Turnovers) have been our main trouble all year long,” Hensley said. “It seems like in the first quarter, we do really well (running the offense), but we can’t cut down on our turnovers to stay in the ballgame long enough.”

Karlie Schoenfelder scored a basket for the Tigers in the opening minute of the second quarter for a 7-4 score before the Tigers’ offense cooled off again. That allowed the Hornets to score 13 straight points and take a 20-4 lead on a layup by Chelsea LaMotte with 3:10 left in the period.

Schoenfelder made a layup with 2:50 remaining in the half, but the Tigers shot only 3 for 14, committed 22 turnovers and trailed 24-6 at the break.

Throughout the season, Hensley said he has seen his team play its best ball in the first and fourth quarters.

“It’s been that way all year. It’s been first and fourth,” he said. “For whatever reason, mentally I don’t know if they feel more pressure in the second quarter because the other team brings more pressure on (by pressing).

“We work on that press break, and they just keep trying to throw the ball through their hands instead of bounce-passing it,” he added. “When we did make a good pass, we can’t seem to put it in the hole. The last two weeks, while we’ve been out of school, we’ve worked on shooting a lot. All we’ve done is shoot. We can shoot it, but when we get under pressure, it’s a different game.”

Any hopes the Tigers had for a comeback disappeared in the first four minutes of the third quarter when the Hornets went on a 7-0 run to increase their lead to 31-6 on a basket by Jasmine Harrell at the halfway mark of the third quarter.

Madden converted a three-point play at 3:49 and Schoenfelder added two free throws with 46 seconds left in the quarter, but the Hornets were on top 40-11 going into the fourth quarter.

“In the fourth quarter, we did well,” Hensley said, as the Tigers outscored the Hornets 12-3. “I’m proud of Jessica and Karlie, our two seniors, because they’re really working with a bunch of girls that are junior varsity players. I told them that they’re helping these girls, that in a couple of years, maybe they can turn it around and be a lot better ballplayers for us.”

Schoenfelder topped the Tigers with 11 points, and Allison Knox was high for the Hornets (8-6) with 14 points.

The one area Hensley was pleased with was rebounding, where the Tigers held a 38-26 advantage. Schoenfelder had nine rebounds, Kendyl Lewis had seven and Ashley Isenhower had six.

Henryville made 18 of 55 shots from the floor and committed 15 turnovers.

Crothersville (0-12, 0-3 in the SAC) made only 7 of 42 shots from the floor and committed 30 turnovers, and Hensley said those are the two major areas his team needs to improve.

ELIZABETH — Allison Knox and Jasmine Harrell scored 16 points apiece to lead Henryville past host South Central on Tuesday, 60-38.

The Hornets (7-6, 2-1 SAC) didn’t hit a 3-point bucket in the contest, but it didn’t need to.

“We played with more energy tonight. It helped that we made shots,” Henryville coach Josh Conrad said. “We took open shots and made open shots.”

After taking an eight-point lead into the locker room at halftime, the Hornets returned to the court with a rout on their minds.

They got it. Henryville put up 21 third-quarter points, and the Rebels (2-6, 1-1) had no answer.

South Central’s sole bright spot was sophomore Kelsey Miller, who scored a game-high 17 points, including four buckets from 3-point range.

Host North Harrison (7-6) put Henryville away early with a 13-0 run in the first three minutes the second quarter, coasting to a 55-29 victory on Saturday.

“Besides those three minutes, I think we played pretty good defense,” Henryville coach Josh Conrad said. “In the first half, we passed on shots and ended up turning the ball over. North Harrison’s defense did a good job at putting us in different positions. It is a game we can take several things from.”

Allison Knox led Henryville (6-6) with 14 points. Hannah Gilstrap added seven and was the only other Hornet with more than 3 points.

Henryville used stifling defense to blank host West Washington in the second quarter and went on to win 46-33.

“We played better defense tonight,” Henryville coach Josh Conrad said. “I think all-around we did a better job as a team helping each other and rebounding the basketball. Offensively, we improved moving the basketball and not passing up open shots.”

Jasmine Harrell led Henryville with 14 points, with Allison Knox adding 13. The Hornets drained four 3-pointers in the contest, including two by Sarah Richey.

Solid shooting powered Providence (2-8) past Henryville at home on Friday, 49-31.

“That was the difference — we made shots where we haven’t in the past,” Providence coach Brad Burden said. “We’ve always played good defense. Tonight, the shots fell.”

Nicole Tucker drained three of Providence’s six 3-point field goals, and Mary Graf had a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double to help power the Pioneers to victory. Also for Providence, Leah White led all scorers with 15 points.

For Henryville (5-5), Allison Knox led the way with 14 points.

HENRYVILLE — The Henryville girls’ basketball team got back over the .500 mark Tuesday night with a 45-41 home victory over Trinity Lutheran.

Senior Allison Knox paced the Hornets (5-4) with a game-high 16 points. Two other Henryville players scored in double figures. Junior guard Jasmine Harrell tallied 11 points and senior guard Sarah Richey had 10.

The Hornets led 11-4 after the first quarter and then outscored the Cougars 21-13 in the second period to lead 32-17 at halftime. Trinity Lutheran tried to mount a rally in the second half, outscoring Henryville 24-13.

“Our defense is getting better each night,” Hornets’ head coach Josh Conrad said. “We are improving as a team and starting to realize the effort and dedication it takes to play team defense. I thought our kids handled the two runs by Trinity Lutheran well and are realizing different ways to adjust when teams are making runs.”

Henryville, which started the season 3-0, has won two games in a row after having a four-game losing streak.

After an ugly first half, Henryville stormed out of the locker room with 18 third-quarter points to outdistance host Lanesville, 45-38.

Allison Knox led Henryville with 22 points. Jasmine Harrell added eight.

Lanesville was led by Kayla Smith, who had 21 points, including four 3-pointers.

Junior Taryn Moore scored 17 points to lead host Charlestown to its first victory of the 2011-12 season, defeating Henryville 55-48.

Teammate Jessica Farmer chipped in 10 points.

HENRYVILLE — The Silver Creek girls’ basketball team used relentless defensive pressure and rebounding to wear down host Henryville to a 50-32 tune Saturday night at Furnish Gymnasium.

The Dragons (2-0) forced 20 Hornet turnovers to win for the second time in as many games this season, while Henryville (3-3) dropped its third straight.

“We think defense and rebounding are going to win games for us,” Dragons head coach Scott Schoen said. “I told the girls at the end of the first quarter that they were playing with the intensity that we needed to be playing with.”

After getting outrebounded 8-5 in the first frame, the Dragons won the boards 32-13 over the final three periods.

“(Henryville head coach) Josh (Conrad) did such a good job changing defenses on us and keeping us mixed up early,” Schoen said. “It took us awhile to get in our rhythm. We started crashing the boards harder after that first quarter and got the ball in the paint more and then our shooting percentage went up.”

The Hornets came out with a sting early as an Allison Knox three-point play gave her squad a 9-6 lead at 4:17 in the opening quarter. However, Creek responded with an 11-2 run to end the first. The spurt was highlighted by three triples, two from Mandi Martin and one from Alexis McFarland.

“We wanted to keep them in front of us,” Conrad said. “We did a pretty good job of that, except for that stretch in the first quarter when they hit those (3-pointers) and that was the extension of the game right there.”

The Dragons opened the second quarter with a 7-2 run, as a Kira Jamros bucket following a Hornet turnover pushed the Creek lead to 24-13 with 4:48 left until intermission. Creek led by 10 points at halftime despite shooting just 36 percent in the first 16 minutes.

“Coming into this game, we thought we had an advantage with our strength in the post, and we didn’t go to that in the first half,” Schoen said. “We finally did that in the second half.”

Henryville held the Dragons scoreless for the first three minutes of the third quarter and pulled to within 29-24 at the 4:53 mark. Alex Tinsley’s first field goal of the game broke Creek’s dry spell and the visitors proceeded to outscore the Hornets 8-0 for the remainder of the third and led by 13 entering the final stanza.

“In the second half, we simply got Tinsley the basketball more. Alex did a good job of finishing,” Schoen said of his leading scorer on the night.

Tinsley scored 14 of her game-high 15 points in the second half.

“She did a good job of kicking it out when she was doubled. She played a solid second half,” Schoen said.

Henryville shot just 4-of-17 in the second half and no Hornet scored in double figures.

“In the first half, we had better spacing and we were actually cutting a little bit,” Conrad said. “In the second half, I think we got a little tired and didn’t cut as much. Conditioning is a thing that’s hurting us right now. We have a lot of girls that log a lot of minutes, so we’re going to have to get in better shape for that. We need to cut for 32 minutes. We need to play defense for 32 minutes.”

Both teams struggled from the free-throw line. Creek was 13-of-22, while Henryville was 10-of-19.

HENRYVILLE — The New Washington girls’ basketball team started its trek toward the Southern Athletic Conference championship Friday night with a 60-46 victory at Henryville. It was the Hornets’ SAC opener as well.

Junior guard Kriston Sarver paced the Mustangs (2-1) with 17 points, as she hit two of New Washington’s seven 3-pointers.

Sophomore Courtney Amick was the Mustangs’ other double-figure scorer with 10 points. Teammates Kaira Doherty, Lindsey Mudd and Caroline Ricks each scored eight.

Henryville senior Allison Knox scored a game-high 23 points. Hornet junior Hannah Gilstrap tallied 11.

The Mustangs led 18-12 after the first quarter and 28-19 at halftime. They proceeded to outscore the Hornets (3-2) 18-10 in the third quarter to go up 46-29.

“The last few minutes of each quarter made a real difference in the outcome of the game,” Henryville head coach Josh Conrad said. “New Washington did a nice job closing out the quarters. We did see a lot of positives that we can build on.”

Trailing 29-24 at the end of three quarters, Henryville attempted to make a rally in the championship game of the Henryville Tip-Off Tournament.

But despite outscoring Oldenburg Academy 16-12 in the final stanza, the Hornets lost in the final of their own tourney, 41-40.

Allison Knox paced Henryville (3-1) with 23 points. Teammate Jenna Harrell chipped in eight.

“Oldenburg did a nice job keeping us in front of them defensively, pushing the basketball and getting after the basketball,” Hornets’ head coach Josh Conrad said. “We didn’t play with a sense of urgency until midway through the fourth quarter. Once we started being aggressive, things started moving some for us. Our girls finished the game competing, and I think even though we lost, we understand what we need to work on to improve.”

HENRYVILLE — Host Henryville forced 33 Clarksville turnovers and crushed the Generals 46-23 Friday night in each team’s third game of the Henryville Tip-Off Tournament. The Hornets tossed a shutout in the first quarter and held Clarksville to 19 percent shooting overall for their fifth straight win over the Generals.

“We had people in areas we hadn’t been in defensively and we did a better job overall,” Hornets head coach Josh Conrad said. “We came in early today and watched some tape of the Medora game. I just wanted them to see how our defense was out of position. I don’t think they believed us in practice when we talked about being out of position. But when they got to see that, then we had much better balance tonight.”

Clarksville (2-1) was 0-of-9 shooting in the first period, while Henryville shot 6-of-12 and placed five players in the scoring column en route to a 14-0 lead at the first stop.

“They were denying both our bigs, (Kierstin) Hall and (Haley) Jenkins,” Clarksville head coach B.D. Ledbetter said. “A lot of our offense is based on movements and screens from them, and they almost played us a triangle in two and it messed up our guards a little bit. That got us out of sync. It took us a while to adapt and then when we did get chances we just did not finish.”

The Generals’ first points of the game came on a pair of Hall free throws at 6:56 in the second frame and their first field didn’t come until a Gabby Evans bucket with 6:10 left until halftime.

It was the Clarksville defense that turned up the pressure in the second quarter as the visitors outscored the Hornets 7-4 and trailed just 18-7 at intermission.

“I was happy with our offensive all except the second quarter,” Conrad said. “We stopped attacking the basket. We dribbled into people a lot too. I don’t know if we got tired or had bad matchups.”

The Generals shot just 2-of-22 and had 16 first-half turnovers.

“We finished a little better, got aggressive, and started to adapt better in the second quarter. But we were still down 11 at halftime,” Ledbetter said. “They came out strong and we just didn’t handle the pressure.”

The third stanza was much like the first — dominated by Henryville (3-0). Allison Knox scored the first six points of the second half to give her team a 24-7 lead, forcing a Clarksville timeout. The Generals went almost five minutes without scoring as Hall’s first basket of the game broke the dry spell with 3:03 remaining in the third.

Knox scored nine of her game-high 11 points in the third quarter, as Henryville grabbed control of the game and led by 21 entering the final period.

“At halftime, we just talked about the same stuff we talked about before the game,” Conrad said. “We want to get hands in shooters faces and just to talk to each other and help each other out. Then when a shot goes up to try to go get the basketball.”

The Hornets had just five second-half turnovers and shot 19-of-43 (44 percent) overall. Both teams struggled from the foul line as victors were just 8-of-20 and Clarksville was 6-of-11.

The silver lining in the dark cloud for Clarksville was rebounding. The visitors outrebounded Henryville 39-27, including 20-12 in the second half.

“Rebounds usually aren’t an issue for us. We just didn’t finish and weren’t strong with the ball is the story tonight,” Ledbetter said.

Henryville won its second pool-play game in its own tip-off tournament, defeating Medora 65-48.

Senior Allison Knox was the only Hornet to score in double figures with 18 points. Mercedes Spears chipped in nine, while Henryville’s Jasmine Harrell and Sarah Richey each scored eight.

Leading 29-22 at halftime, Henryville (2-0) pulled out to a 15-point lead by the end of the third quarter, outscoring Medora in the stanza 17-9.

“Offensively, I think we improved in taking the ball to the basket and making the extra pass,” Henryville head coach Josh Conrad said. “Defensively, it’s early in the year. We had several mistakes matching up and not moving our feet.”

SELLERSBURG — The Henryville girls’ basketball team took control early and never looked back in a 84-25 thrashing of host Rock Creek Community Academy in the opening game of the Henryville Tip-Off Tournament Tuesday night.

The Hornets placed four players in double figures en route to beating the Lions for the 13th straight time. It was the season opener for both teams.

The visitors outscored Rock Creek 20-1 in the second frame and forced 25 turnovers by intermission.

“I thought in the second quarter we did a lot of what we do well, and that’s our zone defenses: the 2-3 and the 1-2-2,” Henryville head coach Josh Conrad said. “We matched up well out of that and that’s our stronger area. After that, we worked on our man-to-man and we have a lot of areas where we can improve on with that.”

The Hornets darted to an 11-0 lead out of the gate, as the Lions didn’t score until a Christi Scholl basket at the 5:06 mark in the first quarter. Rock Creek held Henryville to just 6-of-18 first-period shooting. However, the Hornets cleaned the glass to a 12-5 tune.

“We’re attacking the basket a lot better than we did last year, so that’s a good thing,” Conrad said. “That’s one of the things we’ve stressed. Hopefully, we can continue to do that.”

The Lions, who lost their 54th consecutive game, shot just 3-of-10 in the first half and trailed by 32 points at the break.

The Hornets didn’t let off the gas pedal, as they shot 8-of-12 in the third stanza and held the hosts scoreless until a Kaelin James bucket at the 4:36 mark. Henryville outscored the Lions 41-11 in the middle two quarters and led by 43 heading into the fourth.

“We shot a lot of off-balance, a lot of running shots in the first half,” said Conrad, whose team shot 65 percent in the second half. “We talked about just having more balance and going up strong, and we did a little better job of that in the second half.”

James led Rock Creek with 15 points, which included her team’s only 3-pointer of the game. The Lions shot 28 percent overall and was 6-of-10 from the foul line.

Henryville won the backboards 42-23 and forced 36 Rock Creek giveaways.

“We look stronger out there and that’s a good thing,” Conrad said.

Allison Knox paced the Hornets with 18 points. Teammate Jenna Harrell had 16 points.

Conrad lauded his team’s balanced scoring and the play of his point guard, Jasmine Harrell.

“Jasmine Harrell has done an excellent job in our practices of being a good leader. We have to have that,” Conrad said. “We need her to be offensive and be a leader all the time. Right now, we can’t compliment her enough. She’s done a really good job.”