Hebron Christian focused in getting home wins over Kemper Academy

Tuesday night was considered a rivalry situation by basketball coach Rease Gairhan and the Hebron Christian Eagles.

Hebron was able to remained focused in both situations as the girls won 59-46, then the boys took care of business in a 55-46 result.

In the girls game, the Lady Eagles and Lady Rams engaged in a rough defensive first half that saw both teams get into early foul trouble and players were living at the free-throw line.

The Lady Rams tried to get Hebron out of their comfort zone by running a full court press on nearly every inbound. The Lady Eagles were aided in their efforts to eliminate the press with great play from guard Elisa Carter who led the team with 11 points at halftime, helping the Eagles take a 2113 halftime lead.

The Lady Rams tried to cut into the halftime deficit by ramping up the pressure and trying to force Hebron to make mistakes. The Lady Eagles combo the pressure with great outside shooting by Katelyn Hill, who caught fire early in the second half knocking down shot after shot from the outside.

The lead for the Lady Eagles ballooned to as big as 18 points with Kemper cutting it to 13 at the end of the third quarter, 42-29 Hebron, but the fourth quarter pretty much went just like the third with the Lady Eagles playing suffocating defense and continued knocking down shots from the outside.

Carter finished with 19 points, while Hill led the team with 25 points.

“We played great tonight and Katelyn knocking down those outside shots really helped us out with being able to beat their press, which they normally do not run against us,” Hebron coach Rease Gairhan said after the game.

That was not the only great team performance Gairhan saw Tuesday night as his boys team had one for him in the finale of the doubleheader.

Hebron senior Dash Turman got the game started by scoring the games first seven points and his teams first nine leading to a great first quarter for the Eagles as they took a 17-6 lead after one quarter of play. The Rams of Kemper did not go quietly into the night, but their defense continued to struggle to stop the Eagles inside game.

Hebron’s offense was led by Turman and fellow guard senior guard Braeden Triplett’s ability to get to basket as well as senior center Jon Garrett Lowe crashing the offensive glass. Hebron led at the end of the first half 29-19.

Kemper came out from half and ramped up the pressure on defense running its own full court press. This allowed the

Rams to get within eight early in the third and eventually cut it down to four points at the end of three quarters with their own outside shooting.

The Rams tied the game early in the fourth, but the Eagles quickly went on a 9-0 run to recapture a lead they would not relinquish as the Eagles won led by Turman, who had 21 points to lead the game in scoring.

“I was proud of our guys we kept the talking to a minimum which is tough in a rivalry game like this and we were able to stay out of foul trouble,” Gairhan said.