United begins defense of district title with victory

MINERAL RIDGE — For eight consecutive quarters, the United High Eagles have held opponents to less than 10 points.

Over the past five games, opponents have only accomplished that feat four times over 20 periods of play.

It should come as no surprise that the Golden Eagles have won all five games while holding opponents to a mere 29 points per outing.

Hillary Hoppel scored a game-high 17 points while the United defense forced 30 Brookfield turnovers as the Eagles easily defeated the Warriors, 55-25 in opening round play of the Division III girls sectional basketball tournament at Mineral Ridge High.

“We stress defense and have worked on that aspect of our game every day,” said United coach Roger Zeigler. “We try to shut our opponent down with pressure while denying them the ball.

“It seemed as though we were a step slow; a little complacent at the outset so at halftime we told the girls to make sure that they see everything coming.

“Also, free throws are an important part of our game and tonight we struggled in that area as well.

“We’re going to attack you so if we go to the line and don’t convert our free throw opportunities, then that takes away a big part of our game,” Zeigler said.

The Eagles were just 5 of 13 from the charity stripe but held a decided 23-8 field goal advantage over the Warriors.

United scored the first eight points of the game and raced to an early 12-3 advantage on the strength of Hoppel’s six points in the opening frame.

The Warriors didn’t score their first point of the game until Paige Wallace converted the first of two free throws at the 2:26 mark, notching their first of just eight field goals in the contest and the only one of the opening period at the 1:33 mark of the session.

Hoppel, along with Rachel Sell, Joclyn Berdine and Ruth Prosko all had three points in the second stanza and the Eagles outscored the Warriors 16-9 in the quarter to forge a 28-12 halftime advantage.

Hoppel said the Eagles (17-4), the defending district champions with a 22-2 mark a season ago, aren’t looking ahead; just taking it one game at a time.

“Our defense is one of our strengths and it is something that we work on each and every practice,” she said. “We cannot look ahead and right now, we’re just looking to defend our sectional crown.”

Two 3-pointers after intermission by Joclyn Berdine helped United build a 43-18 lead heading to the final eight minutes of play.

Four points by Hoppel and a stingy Eagles defense, which limited Brookfield to just a bucket in the final frame, helped seal the victory for United.

It was the eighth consecutive win for United and the ninth in their last 10 outings.

The Eagles will now play Lisbon in a nightcap Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Mineral Ridge Gymnasium.

The Warriors finished their season 7-14 overall.