Mediapolis too much for Hillcrest Academy

Hillcrest Academy’s Esther Hughes gets fouled in the second half of the Ravens game against Mediapolis on Jan. 11. The Ravens fell 69-29. (Hunter Moeller/The Union)

KALONA — The Hillcrest Academy Raven’s girls basketball team has had a tough last two games.

On Friday, the Ravens suffered a 60-15 loss to the hands of Winfield Mt. Union, the number two team in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference. On Tuesday night, they faced off against the top rated team in the conference Mediapolis, falling 69-29.

“Mediapolis they’re a great team,” Hillcrest Academy head coach Mitch Drey said. “They got inside and they got outside. They got two guards at the front of their press that average four steals a game. Most teams would love to have two.”

Drey says for his team it’s all about confidence.

“For us, confidence is the biggest thing,” he said. “Throughout the whole year that’s the biggest thing. We were a young team coming in, we hit our stride against Lone Tree. Winfield was kind of a blow to us we wanted to play better. We came out and we were ready to go tonight. We knew it was going to be a tall order, but I can’t fault the girls effort.”

The Bulldogs poured in 29 points in the first quarter, to Hillcrest Academy’s six, and follow up with a 20-10 second on the way to a 49-16 halftime lead.

Defense and effort are the biggest focal points for the Ravens and they did well throughout. The Ravens won the third quarter, 8-7, and held Bulldogs to just 13 points, five themselves, in the fourth.

Drey said that he’s proud of the effort his team showed despite being down big.

“It’s massive” (the effort), he said. “I asked the girls in practice, ‘How bad do you want it?’ If it was easy everyone would do it and it’s not easy begin down 20 or 30 points. We found ourselves on that end of it a couple times this year, but every game we come out. We did it tonight. We play a full game, and there was not a single time I felt like we weren't giving it our all.”

Malia Yoder pulls up from three for Hillcrest Academy in the first quarter of their matchup with Mediapolis. Yoder led the Ravens with 12 points. (Hunter Moeller/The Union)

Malia Yoder led the Ravens with 12 points. Esther Hughes finished with nine. Norah Yoder added six and Kylee Statler chipped in two.

Hillcrest Academy drops to 1-11 with the loss and will travel to Wapello on Friday.