Despite cold shooting, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn still had a crack at defeating South O’Brien’s girls. HMS had cut a 15-point deficit down to one but the Wolverines made enough shots and free throws to move on to a 55-44 non-conference win over the Hawks January 26 at Hartley.
HMS missed multiple scoring chances early and fell behind 22-7 midway through the second quarter. The Hawks began to find the range and the teams entered intermission with HMS trailing 27-16. More of the same got the Hawks within a single point on two occasions late in the third quarter, which ended with South O’Brien in front 36-32. In the final frame the Hawks made only two baskets and were just 7-of-18 at the free throw line, allowing the Wolverines to pull away.
A total of 27 offensive rebounds for the Hawks combined with the shot-making woes led to 15-of-68 shooting from the field, or 22 percent. HMS was 3-of-12 from three point range and was overall 11-of-24 at the charity stripe. South O’Brien canned 7 of 24 shots from beyond the arc and sank 10 of 18 free throws.

The Hawks got 17 points from Jasmine Lux, 11 from Lydia Harders, six from Darby Mastbergen, five from Taya Mason, four from Olivia Grooters and one from Elise Haack. Grooters grabbed 12 rebounds and made a pair of steals. Other rebounders of note were Lux with nine boards, Harders with seven, Mason with six and Haack with five.
The turnover totals in the game were nearly equal. HMS turned the ball over 14 times while the Wolverines were guilty of 13 turnovers.
S. O’Brien 12 15 9 19 – 55
HMS 5 11 16 12 – 44