SYCAMORE - At the heart of the matter was heart or the lack there of.
And because of it, Hopewell-Loudon was blasted by Mohawk, 58-37, in Midland Athletic League action.
"It just comes down to the matter that we didn't have any heart tonight," Hopewell-Loudon coach Rod Daniel said. "We just didn't get after it tonight."
A lack of heart combined with a determined basketball team was a volatile combination.
Mohawk coach Josh Fortney said his team got all its motivation from its loss last year to Hopewell-Loudon.
"This whole week has been Hopewell week," Fortney said. "Last year we went over to their place and they beat us and that was a lot of motivation for these girls."
A 7-0 start was trimmed to 9-6 by the Chieftains (3-3, 1-2 MAL) before a 13-0 run that spanned into the second quarter put Mohawk in front by a commanding 22-6 margin.
In the first quarter, the Chieftains were a rough 1 of 11 from the field, with just a Courtney Burns trifecta and three Danielle Rohrbach free throws accounting for their first quarter scoring.
Meanwhile, Mohawk put up 22 shots in the quarter, aided by eight offensive rebounds. Sarah Runion buried two 3-pointers and Sarah Parker and Kasey Adelsperger each had a couple of buckets. The Mohawk defense was intense, forcing seven of Hopewell-Loudon's eventual 16 turnovers in the first quarter.
"We just were not ready to play tonight. Defensively, we weren't moving our feet off the dribble on every possession," Daniel said. "Anytime we get beat off the dribble, we kind of give up and that can't happen against a team like this."
Hopewell-Loudon cut it to 26-15 by half, and a 3-pointer from Lauren Trumpler and a Rohrbach bucket in the paint made it 26-20. The Chieftains kept it close for another minute, with Rohrbach scoring to make it 30-23 with 5:55 to go in the third quarter.
But a 13-0 streak by the Warriors (5-2, 2-1 MAL), including five points from Julie Adelsperger, put the Warriors up 20, 43-23, and it was all downhill from there for the Chieftains.
Lynsey Trusty led all scorers with 14 points. Julie Adelsperger had 12 points. Runion and Kasey Adelsperger each had nine points and Sarah Parker had eight. Kasey Adelsperger and Parker had 11 and eight rebounds respectively.
"To try and rotate and try to cover up everybody, it's about impossible," Daniel said of defending the Warriors.
Rohrbach had 10 points and eight boards. Burns had eight points and eight caroms. Trumpler also tallied eight points in the loss.
"We tried to stop just one or two things they did well and we tried to focus on one or two things that we did well, and I think that made a difference in the game," Fortney said. "Our posts stepped up and played really good post defense and contested shots and I'm proud of the way they played."
