The Heritage Hills girls basketball team battled two opponents, so to speak, late last week — rival Forest Park and the flu bug. It proved to be an uphill battle. The Lady Pats had a tough time overcoming illness that affected multiple players and a talented F.P. squad, eventually falling to the Class 2A, No. 4 ranked Rangers 43-21 last Thursday night in Lincoln City.
Heritage Hills coach Kim Brown admitted her squad was far from full strength. “We started getting sick about this time last week,” said the Lady Pats’ coach. “Friday morning, I got a phone call and one of them was sick. Then every day it was another one. Eight girls practiced one day. Nine girls practiced another day. One day, we had 10, but we couldn’t go up and down the floor because the ones who came back were only 50%. We had girls on the floor tonight who probably weren’t 50%. The whole school has been obliterated by the flu … We had a game plan and if we had the personnel and the normal practice routine, I think we could have given them a much better game.”
Still, Heritage Hills (6-2) knew they would have their hands full against Forest Park (10-1), who are the defending Class 2A state champs.
“They’re a good team. They’re just steady. Everything they do, they do well,” said Brown of the Rangers. “Their spacing [on offense] is outstanding. You know what they’re going to do but you still can’t stop them a lot of the time. If they have a cold shooting night, then you’re probably lucky. With someone as big, as good and as versatile as [Amber] Tretter, and also [Carley] Begle on the inside — she has some of the best footwork in the PAC around the rim — it’s hard to stop them. Then their length is hard to score against.”
Even though the contest didn’t end the way Brown had hoped, she said they won’t harp on the result. Instead, they’ll focus on getting healthy as they move forward.
Read the whole story and more in this week’s edition of the Spencer County Leader!
Photos by Sierra Bruggeman
