When Hartville’s girls basketball team dropped a disappointing road contest to rival Mansfield on Jan. 14, Lady Eagles’ head coach Steve Sanders knew it was important for his team refocus to get past the tough loss.
His squad has done just that as they have won five straight games. Their last two wins came against Wright County foe Norwood and over a 12-win Gainesville team. Against the Lady Pirates, Hartville had a slim six point lead in the first quarter. Molly Brown then hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter to push the Lady Eagles’ lead to 12. In the third quarter, she added two more 3-pointers while Jadalyn Keith scored seven points for a 27-point advantage.
Hartville’s defense held Norwood to just nine points in the second half to win the game, 56-23.
Brown led the Lady Eagles in scoring with five 3-pointers for 15 points. McKinley Sanders had 14 points; Jenna Kelley scored 13; Keith had nine points and Brey Flachsmann scored two points.
Keyera Cornelison led the Lady Pirates with nine points as no Norwood players scored in double figures. Cassie Chadwell had seven points, Sierra Cornelison scored four points while Cassie Wright had three points.
Hartville returned home on Feb. 4 and pulled away late to beat a quality Gainesville team, 43-25.
Sanders paced Hartville early with seven points to give Hartville an early 12-7 edge. They were up by just three points at halftime before two big Keith 3-pointers in the third quarter pushed the lead to 10. The Lady Eagles would outscore the Lady Bulldogs, 23-8, in the second half as they won the game by 18 points. Sanders paced Hartville with 18 points; Keith had 14; Kelley scored six points; Brown had three points; and Kaylee Ferguson had two points.
