On Saturday, the Alliance girl’s basketball squad headed to South Dakota for a pair of games against Hill City. AHS dropped both contests. The hometown Rangers won the varsity affair 70 to 35 while the Bulldogs JV team fell 38 to 28. With the loss, the varsity club fell to 4 and 13 on the year. Alliance put 7 players in the scoring column, led by Brooke Bailey who tallied 13 points. The Dogs were down by 14 at halftime as Hill City cruised to the win.
Eight consecutive points by Alliance is how action began. Bulldog Reese Armstrong started the contest with a bucket. It was followed by a Paz Cody 3 as the Dogs went up by 5. Free throws by Bailey and Brinlee Lanik ensued that put AHS ahead 8 to 0 at the 6 minute mark. Hill City responded with an 8 to 2 run that tied the game at 10. A Lanik hoop was the lone Bulldog basket during the Ranger spurt. The period finished with the Dogs getting tallies by Armstrong and Bailey and Alliance down 14 to 13.
AHS would manage just 7 points in the second as the hosts slowly surged ahead. The Ranger’s offense was super strong in the early minutes, going on a 12 to 2 run. Two free throws by KiKi Adams accounted for the lone tallies for the Lady Bulldogs. Down 11, the guests got 2 free throws by Olivia Krejci to stop the spree. The squads then swapped 4 point stretches with Bailey hitting a three and making a charity shot for the visitors. Period #2 came to an end with 3 in a row by the hosts. Alliance trailed 34 to 20 at halftime.
Quarter 3 was a tough one for the Dogs. Hill City outscored Alliance 25 to 11 to extend its advantage. A Cody three got the Dogs off to a nice start but the Rangers were up for the challenge by scoring the game’s next 8 points. Down 19, a Bailey deuce stopped the Ranger run but 7 more HC scores made it a 49 to 25 ball game with 3 minutes remaining in the third. Three points apiece by Bailey and Armstrong kept the contest close. The hosts would score the third period’s final 8 points and the game went to the fourth with the hosts in charge at 59 to 31.
Hill City bested the Dogs again in the final period. The Rangers outscored the guests 11 to 4 in extending its margin. Alliance got a two from Hannah Benzel and 2 free throws by Bailey for their lone scores. Final Rangers 70 Bulldogs 35
All 13 7 11 4 35
HC 14 20 25 11 70
Scoring for Alliance Bailey 13 Armstrong 6 Lanik 4 Krejci 2 Cody 6 Adams 2 Benzel 2
A three day conference tournament is next for the Bulldogs on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.