Serena tops Hinckley-Big Rock for 4th straight LTC Tournament title

EARLVILLE – Serena four-year starter Jenna Setchell said among many goals she wanted to reach this season, one was near the top of the list.

“Four golden balls,” Setchell said of the prize for winning the Little Ten Conference Tournament.

The top-seeded and three-time defending champion Huskers made it four in a row with a 50-41 victory on Friday night over No. 2-seeded Hinckley-Big Rock in the 44th annual event.

“I not only wanted (the title) for myself, but for my teammates as well. It’s pretty exciting to say I have been on teams that won the tournament all four years.”

Serena (18-5) led 10-9 after one quarter and used a 9-2 run to close out the first half up 29-16.

“I thought in the first half we did a good job against the box-and-one on Jenna,” Serena coach Jim Jobst said. “We were moving and cutting and getting good shots. Then in the second half we just stopped being aggressive and started waiting for others to do things. We were just too timid.

“In the end, we were able to make a couple defensive plays to keep the lead. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins but we’ll take it.”

Hinckley-Big Rock (11-7) was able close the gap to 36-31 after three quarters and 44-41 with 2:36 to play on a pair of free throws by Grace Michaels.

From there, Setchell picked up a pair of steals on the Royals following possessions, and her two free throws and a layup by Maddie Galde helped close out the victory.

Macy Mahler led the Huskers with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Setchell netted 10 points and recorded six steals. Glade (11 rebounds, five assists) and Finley Jobst added six points each.

“I had to adjust and so did my teammates,” Setchell said. “It’s not something we’ve had really to play against so far this season. It seemed like everything we did well in the first half we struggled with in the second half.

“There were a lot of fouls and turnovers which made it hard to get into any kind of flow. But I guess we did just enough good things in the first half to help us be able to hold on.”

H-BR, which was making its first appearance in the title game since the last of five straight championships in 2011, was led by 16 points and 16 rebounds from Sami Carlino, with Raven Wagner (seven rebounds, four assists), Anna Herrmann (five rebounds) and Payton Murphy all chipping in five points each.

“They beat us by 29 the first time we played, so while we aren’t happy with the ultimate outcome, I feel we played a pretty solid game against them this time around,” H-BR coach Bob Barnett said. “We went to the box-and-one on (Setchell) and we ran it well. We just didn’t want her to beat us tonight.

“We just had too many turnovers, too many missed layups and got ourselves into foul trouble. Even with all that we were only down three with a couple minutes to go, but from there we just couldn’t get that next basket.”