Hillcrest’s return comes with tight loss

KALONA — Hillcrest Academy hosted Tri-County in a nonconference girls basketball game on Friday night, the first of the year for both teams and the first since the 2019-20 season for the Ravens.

Hillcrest Academy missed out on girls basketball due to low numbers in 2020-21. The Ravens nearly marked their return with a win, but narrowly fell 37-31.

Tri-County led the game 11-10 after one quarter, 19-13 at halftime and 29-16 after three. The Ravens stormed back with a 15-8 fourth quarter but time ran out before they could complete the comeback.

Stats are not yet available for this game.

The Ravens fell to 0-1 on the season. They will have a shot to move to .500 when they travel to Winfield-Mount Union on Tuesday night for the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division opener.