Yesterday, the Lady Hawks basketball team defeated the Argo Argonauts in an intense game with the final score of 62-61. Highlights included: Trinity Duckworth 17 points, Tahlor Sutton 18 points and freshmen Jamila Mitchell with a double-double, 19 points and 14 rebounds. The game was very close throughout the whole contest and big plays by Trinity Duckworth were made until the Hawks were able to pull off the win.

The last time the Hawks beat Argo was 4 years ago, in 2015, so this was a big statement game for Hillcrest. I asked head coach Ed Schodorf how he felt about the big win, and he said, “I feel good that the girls earned the victory. I don’t think we played our best game of basketball, but I do feel like they pulled it off at the end. So, in the crunch time, I feel they made enough plays to seal the victory over a very good Argo team whose been in charge of the conference for the past four or five years, so it was a good victory.”

One team captain Tahlor Sutton added, “I feel like we started off a little slow, but we got the win so that’s all that matters.” This is Tahlor’s first year on varsity coming off of an ACL tear that benched her for last years season, so I’m pretty sure that this win felt great for her. Team captain Duckworth added, “It was good, not our best game, but we came together as a team at the end.”

I talked to Lisa Wunar the Hawks athletic director, Hillcrest alumni, and former Lady Hawks basketball player and she said, “It was a great win for the program!! It was a fun game to watch as both teams played with a lot of pride and determination. It will be remembered as one of the most memorable wins in Hawk Basketball. Great win ladies!!!!”

Assistant coach Robert Clark has been around for quite some time seeing that he has had daughters that attended Hillcrest in the past, so I asked him how he felt about the game, “The win was great! Hillcrest has reigned number one in this conference for over two decades, my daughters Taylor and Jaila Clark, also players I’ve trained, Joshulyn Shepard and Kyla Cornelius were the last [Hillcrest] team to beat Argo – Dec 17 2015, 66-47, with the two best players possible to ever play at Argo, so beating them and taking back the Queen of the conference is huge and also a building block to place Hillcrest back at the top of the division where it belongs.”

I have been around Hillcrest basketball since my sister (’13) played on the team, and I remember going to her games. Now that I’m on the team, winning this game is great for Hawk history. Since I’ve been at Hillcrest the varsity team has been losing to Argo, and I was so glad that we came out with the win this year. I’m proud to say that I was apart of the team that broke the losing streak.

This is head coach Ed Schodroff’s second year here at Hillcrest and coaching the girls, and I don’t think that I’m the only one when I say that I see a great turn around for the girls’ team. He brings good coaching, great attitude, and positive energy to the team. Also added to the coaching staff is Dean Vernell Glover who gives the team that extra something that was greatly needed.

The Lady Hawks have a full season this year with a total of 31 games. They have challenging games and some that should be rather easy.

Coming up next on their schedule: they play Whitney Young in their shootout Friday December 13, 2019.