Back on Dec. 14, the Washington Lady Lions visited Hillsboro High School and picked up their first win of the season, 47-41.

Wednesday night, Jan. 25, it was Hillsboro’s turn to visit Washington High School for the penultimate game on the Frontier Athletic Conference schedule.

After a slow start and trailing most of the game, Washington, down by as many as 11 points on a couple of occasions, fought back late, only to fall in the end, 31-28.

It was Senior Night at Washington High School and the Lady Lions recognized their three seniors: Allie Mongold, Megan Sever and Natalie Woods prior to the game.

Mongold and junior Calliegh Wead-Salmi led Washington, each with nine points. Mongold scored her team’s lone three-point field goal.

For Hillsboro, sophomore Blake Herdman was the game’s leading scorer with 13 points. She hit three of her team’s four three-point field goals.

Freshman Kobie Miles was next in scoring for Hillsboro with nine points.

Hillsboro took a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Washington briefly held its only lead of the game, 5-4 with 4:58 to play in the first half.

Hillsboro scored on its next possession and led the remainder of the game.

However, the score was tied, 7-7 with 2:48 to play in the half.

Hillsboro took a 13-9 lead into the locker room.

Taking advantage of an 11-4 scoring edge in the third quarter, Hillsboro extended its lead to a game-high 11 points, 24-13 after three quarters.

Washington attempted to turn the tables on the visitors in the fourth quarter.

Mongold hit a three-point basket and made a free throw and Wead-Salmi scored to make it a 5-point game, 26-21 with 2:18 remaining.

Hillsboro had a rebound and bucket and then hit a three to go back in front by 10, 31-21 with 1:40 to play.

Washington again cut the margin to five points, this time with 40 seconds left.

Hillsboro had a turnover trying to inbound the ball and Eliana Racine scored from an offensive rebound to make it 31-28.

Hillsboro called a time out and after a Washington foul, missed the front end of a one and one opportunity.

Washington had the ball and called for time with 11 seconds to play.

However, Washington did not get a very good look at the basket and the shot was no good with Hillsboro escaping with the three-point victory.

“Our girls did a good job competing at the end,” Washington head coach Samantha Bihl said. “Defensively, we were able to create some chaos and force some turnovers.

“I’m proud of how they fought to make it a game,” Bihl said. “We just came out flat. We had too many turnovers from the start. We struggled to find our flow early on and that hurt us in the long run.”

“We’ve been on a really tough stretch of games,” Hillsboro head coach Heather Storer said. “We’ve had close games; we’ve had games that we’ve been blown out. We’ve been hungry for a win for a while.

“These girls came out from the (start) and were ready to play tonight,” Storer said. “I know they wanted to fight and they fought clear to the end. We tried to give it away there at the end, but they kept fighting and that’s all that matters with these girls.”

Washington (4-15 overall, 2-7 in the FAC) will host Waverly Saturday with the j-v game starting at noon.

Hillsboro (3-16 overall, 1-8 in the FAC) plays at Western Brown Saturday. The j-v girls are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. and the varsity girls at approximately 3:30 p.m. In between those games will be a j-v boys game and the varsity boys game will follow the varsity girls contest.

In one other FAC contest Wednesday, Jackson improved to 9-0 and won the outright conference championship with a 45-39 win over McClain.

Jackson is 9-0, Chillicothe is 7-2, Miami Trace is 5-4 and McClain is 3-6.

Hillsboro wins j-v game with Washington

Hillsboro won the junior-varsity game against Washington Wednesday, 33-31.

Megan Mongold led Washington with nine points. She had one three-point field goal.

Eliana Racine scored six for Washington, Jada Ryan and Calee Ellars both scored four points and Khalia Smith, Jordan Gray, Keona Ramirez and Kaithlyn Maquiling each scored two points.

For Hillsboro, Kyra Boyd was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points. She had two three-point field goals.

Reagan Estes scored 12 points and Kallie Fraley scored four.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

W 1 8 4 15 — 28

H 4 9 11 7 — 31

WASHINGTON — Allie Mongold 2 (1)-2-9; Calleigh Wead-Salmi 2-5-9; Eliana Racine 2-0-4; Megan Sever 2-0-4; Natalie Woods 1-0-2; Maggi Wall 0-0-0; Calee Ellars 0-0-0. TOTALS — 9 (1)-7-28. Free throw shooting: 7 of 12 for 58 percent. Three-point field goal: Mongold. Field goal shooting: 10 of 37 for 27 percent. Turnovers: 18.

HILLSBORO — Peighton Bledsoe 1-0-2; Kobie Miles 3-4-10; Rylie Scott 1-0-2; Reagan Estes 0-0-0; Addyson Miles 0 (1)-1-4; Kyra Boyd 0-0-0; Blake Herdman 2 (3)-0-13. TOTALS — 7 (4)-5-31. Free throw shooting: 5 of 9 for 55 percent. Three-point field goals: Herdman, 3; A. Miles. Field goal shooting: 11 of 40 for 28 percent. Turnovers: 18.