The Hillcrest Academy Ravens and Lone Tree Lions split a Southeast Iowa Superconference rivalry doubleheader Saturday in the Area Game of the Week on the KCII3 Stream.

The afternoon began with the girls game, and it was the home Ravens that jumped in front early 14-9 after the first frame with help from a trio of treys, one each from Claire Withrow, Brynna Boshart and Maria Portillo. Lone Tree began to shake off the rust from the holiday break when they started the second period on an 8-3 run to tie the game at 17 with 4:41 remaining in the first half. Both sides went on small scoring spurts the rest of the half to see Hillcrest ahead 27-26 at intermission. Using an 18-11 run, the Lady Lions would push ahead after the third quarter 44-38 with a combined 14 points in those eight minutes from seniors Ava Christofferson and Finley Jacque. In the final frame, the Lone Tree defense would rise to the occasion, forcing eight unofficial Raven turnovers to outscore Hillcrest 12-10 and get the win by a final of 56-48.

Unofficially, Lone Tree won the glass and turnovers by 10 and nine, respectively. They were led by Christofferson’s game-high 21 points, followed by Jacque at 19. Lady Lion head coach Ryan Shelman broke down the importance of Christofferson to the team’s win on the postgame show with KCII Sports.

“ She was able to hit a lot of shots for us. She also was great on the offensive glass. We ran some set pieces to her. She was able to finish off too and really finish strong at the basket. Helped us on the offensive and defensive boards as well. And then she’s one of the premier defenders in our conference and she definitely played really outstanding tonight,” Shelman said.

Hillcrest was led by 17 from Withrow and 14 from Niva Helmuth. The win raises Lone Tree’s record to 8-3 overall, dropping the Ravens to 3-7.

The Raven boys began the nightcap on an 11-4 run to force a Lone Tree timeout. The Hillcrest hot streak persisted through the remainder of the first quarter, with the team leading 22-10 before the second frame. Before teams headed into the locker rooms, the Ravens managed to add on two more to the lead to make it a 37-23 game. Hillcrest broke the game open in the third with 27 points, 12 of which from sophomore Gibson Scott. With the game in hand, the Ravens cruised through the fourth quarter to capture a 79-53 win.

Unofficially, Hillcrest won both turnovers and rebounds by four each. Three Ravens scored in double figures, including Kale Bailey at the top of the heap with 24, Scott at 18 and Rowan Miller with 14. The trio joined KCII Sports live on the Area Game of the Week postgame show to talk about the victory.

“We’ve kind of been on fire here to start the year and it was kind of a big focus for us to stay hot and to improve even more,” Bailey said.

“Our skills were refined over Christmas break and our shooting percentages probably went up and we had a couple games where we scored over 75 points back-to-back, so just continuing that,” Miller said.

“One of the keys tonight was a good start, and I think we all looked at each other and were like, ‘Let’s do that,’ you know? Let’s get them to call a timeout early. We did a great job doing that, and I think all the guys did a great job. Credit to the whole team,” Scott said.

Cade Willoz led Lone Tree with 15, followed by Reece Holbrook at 14. The win keeps Hillcrest unbeaten at 9-0, while Lone Tree falls to 2-7.