GREENSBURG — Hauser traded buckets with the Greensburg girls basketball team for the first four points of Tuesday’s game, but the Pirates took over from there.
Class 3A No. 2-ranked Greensburg allowed just two baskets in each of the first two quarters on its way to beating the Jets 63-27.
Sarah Tedder scored the first two points for Hauser early in the opening period, and Lauryn Starnes closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating lay-in. Bree Hadley, who led the Jets with six points, scored all four of Hauser’s second-quarter points.
“We just can’t go out and put up eight points at the start of the game,” Hauser coach Brad Hamilton said. “I’ve kind of racked my brain all season saying, ‘Am I not executing good offense? Do I need to run different plays?’ But the reality is, we struggle early with patience and possessing the ball.”
The Jets (4-15) had a stronger second half after trailing 37-8 at halftime. Hauser outscored its first-half total in the third quarter with 11 points that included a 6-0 run.
The Jets added another six points in the fourth. They also held the Pirates (16-3) to their lowest scoring quarter in the final period with 10 points.
“I think we gave more effort. It was a closer half,” Hamilton said. “Obviously, they subbed more and that sort of thing, but I thought we gave more effort. What I told them at halftime is that I felt that we just conceded once we got down 10 or 12 points.”
Grace Hasler, Nichole Paetzel and Sarah Tedder all scored five points, and Starnes ended with four for Hauser. Tedder led the Jets with six rebounds.
Hauser will try to bounce back when it hosts Morristown for senior night Thursday.
“We have to go out and practice (today) and work on attacking the rim and playing hard on both ends of the floor,” Hamilton said. “… We’re still in a mode where we’ve just got to find an offensive rhythm.”
