Hamilton Community Schools

Saturday December 21st 2024 On a beautiful Saturday morning with the sun shinning through the windows at the historic "Hoosier Gym" the Lady Marines took the hardwood against West Central Co-op in Winchester Illinois. Playing short handed with just 5 ladies Hamilton played their hearts out. Bella Rivera got things going on the defensive side of things doing a great job walling up in the middle of their 2-3 zone and pulling down rebounds forcing WC to call and early timeout to begin the game. Rivera was then able to run the floor in transition leading to a wide open three in which she buried. A few minutes later she caught the ball at the top of the key and sank another one putting the Marines on top 6-4 before a Cougar layup tied things at 6 with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. A few Hamilton turnovers pushed West Central up 14-6 by the end of the first quarter. Turnovers led to the Cougars breaking things open in the 2nd quarter eventually leading to a 24-0 run before Brenna Mercer knocked down a long range two pointer to make it 8-28 with 3 minutes left in the 1st half. A couple late baskets by West Central to end the quarter brought the halftime score to 8-33 in favor of the Cougs. A quick scoring burst to start the third quarter for West Central brough the deficit to 35 by the end of the third quarter. Tristen Creager did score an easy layup after a great cut to the basket on a sideline inbounds during the quarter. B. Mercer hit her second three of the game this time coming in the fourth quarter. Although the Lady Marines gave it their all for four straight quarters and never gave up and won the fourth quarter by 6 points the final score ended up being 23-50. These girls should be extremely proud of how hard they played with 5 players this morning.