By RICHIE HALL
ARCADIA – Tuesday was a special night at Hamilton Heights, and the Huskies’ girls basketball team delivered a great win, and a meaningful one, too.
Heights hosted Bishop Chatard and won a scrappy game 52-37. It was the Huskies’ annual Pink Out game, which raised funds and awareness for breast cancer. Heights raised $2,780 for the IWIN Foundation, presenting the check to a representative of the foundation after the game.
The Huskies also celebrated breast cancer survivors before the game, one of which was special to Heights senior MyKayla Moran.
“My aunt is one of the survivors, Sheila Hebenstriet, and today’s her birthday,” said Moran. “So it meant a lot to me to play on this day and have a good win for her and for the rest of the survivors, too.”
“It was a great evening,” said Huskies coach Keegan Cherry. “The Pink Out, that was started last year by Jillian Osswald and her family for the IWIN Foundation and the cause for the cancer warriors. It was such a special evening. And really the touching thing about it is, there’s obviously families that are close to the program. There are moms where they had daughters in the program. I challenge anyone that doesn’t know someone who hasn’t been impacted or affected by cancer. So to have those families back and share this night with us and to win convincingly like we did was a great evening.”
Moran helped the Class 3A No. 7 Huskies get off to a great start, scoring Heights’ first six points of the game, including two putbacks. She scored eight points in the first quarter, which finished with the Huskies leading 15-7.
“One of our first plays was a back screen to get me open and to just get points on the board and start the game running quick and to get our defense up,” said Moran. “Just to get the momentum going.”
“It was really important for MyKayla to establish herself down low,” said Huskies coach Keegan Cherry.
Heights slowly built its lead during the second quarter, going on a 7-0 run to hold a 27-13 advantage, Mia Shields and Camryn Runner both made two free throws, with Ella Hickok hitting a 3-pointer in between. Hickok had another 3 earlier in the quarter.
The Trojans’ Anna Thompson made a 3 to end the half, but Heights was still ahead 27-16. Thompson opened the third quarter with a layin, and the Huskies responded with a 7-0 run. Hickok and Moran made layins, then Shields drained a triple to put Heights ahead 34-18.
The Huskies led 36-21 after three quarters, and maintained its lead around that margin for the entire fourth period. Heights’ biggest advantage was 18 points, which it held twice in the last two minutes. Runner hit two free throws to put the Huskies up 47-29, and Hadleigh Cherry made a pair of foul shots with 46.2 seconds left to give Heights a 50-32 lead.
Four Huskies players finished in double figures. Runner led the way with 14 points, followed by Moran with 12, Shields with 11 and Hickok with 10. Keegan Cherry said that his team’s balance was “really good, and we need that. Teams are going to key on Camryn and when they do, other girls have to step up.”
Heights is 8-3 and hosts Delta on Thursday.
HAMILTON HEIGHTS 52, BISHOP CHATARD 37
Heights FG FT TP PF
Ella Hickok 4 0-0 10 1
Mia Shields 2 6-6 11 1
Camryn Runner 3 7-10 14 3
Hadleigh Cherry 0 3-5 3 3
MyKayla Moran 5 2-3 12 2
Kaylee Rhoton 1 0-0 2 4
Morgan Ottinger 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 18-24 52 14
Score by Quarters
Chatard 7 9 5 16 – 37
Heights 15 12 9 16 – 52
Heights 3-pointers (4) Hickok 2, Shields 1, Runner 1.