Returning to the court for the first time in almost a month at the City of Hopkinsville Holiday Classic on Thursday, the Heritage Christian Academy girls basketball team paid for a sluggish second quarter in a 32-24 loss to Dawson Springs.
Dawson Springs topped the Lady Warriors for the second time this season to snap a five-game skid and improve to 2-6. HCA dropped its second in a row to slip to 1-4 with a matchup at Caldwell County in the 2nd Region All ‘A’ Classic coming up on Monday.
Kate St. Martin got off to a strong start for the Lady Warriors with five points to open the game, but the Lady Panthers countered with nine from Kimberly Hoover. Hoover’s back-to-back layups off steals put Dawson Springs up 11-5 before St. Martin drilled her second three-pointer of the quarter with eight seconds left.
But the game got away from HCA in the second frame, with Ava DeJager’s jumper with 3:50 left in the half the Lady Warriors’ only points. Hoover scored six in the quarter for the Lady Panthers, including baskets on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 21-10 at halftime.
Dawson Springs took its biggest lead of the game at 28-14 with 1:37 left in the third before Rachel Robson’s three-point play in the final seconds got the Lady Warriors back within 11 points.
HCA held the Lady Panthers to only four points over the final eight minutes and were back within nine after back-to-back baskets by Robson. St. Martin’s third three-pointer of the night cut it to eight with just under a minute to play, but the Lady Warriors couldn’t get any closer.
Hoover scored a game-high 19 for Dawson Springs. St. Martin scored 12 to lead HCA, and DeJager pulled down eight rebounds to go with four points.
Dawson Springs 11 10 7 4 — 32
Heritage Christian 8 2 7 7 — 24
Dawson Springs (2-6) — Hoover 19, Swatzell 9, Back 2, Hunter 2
Heritage Christian (1-4) — St. Martin 12, Robson 8, DeJager 4
