HURON — The Sanborn Central-Woonsocket Blackhawks, using a sticky man-to-man defense and a never say never attitude on the offensive glass squeaked out a 49-46 upset victory over the Hanson Beaverettes in a semifinal game of the Region 4B girls’ basketball tournament Thursday night at Huron Arena.
The Blackhawks, who improve to 16-6, trailed through much of the game and took their first lead of the second half with three minutes to go in the game, then got baskets when they needed them to overhaul the Beaverettes to win and move on to the SoDak 16 round next Thursday.
The second-seeded Beaverettes jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead to open the game, as Megan Guericke hit from distance and Mekiah Campbell scored inside.  Megan Poyer and Abby Vermeulen kept the Blackhawks in the game, then with the score 10-4 after an Elizabeth Arend three-pointer for Hanson, the Blackhawks went on a run.
Ignited by a nifty move in the lane by Kaylee White that resulted in a free throw, Sanborn Central-Woonsocket got another bucket from Vermeulen and a layup by Trista White to cut the margin to a single point.
Campbell converted inside again to close the quarter, but a short jumper by Poyer to open the second period, followed by a three from Kaylee White gave the Blackhawks their first lead of the game at 15-12 and prompted a Hanson timeout.
Whatever was said in the huddle worked, as Hanson went on a 10-0 run to take a 22-15 lead, keyed by three pointers from Jacy Waldera and Morgan Huber.
The teams traded baskets the rest of the half and a late steal and layup by Guericke gave the Beaverettes a 32-22 cushion at the half.
The teams traded baskets for the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter and a Waldera trey gave the Beaverettes a 39-28 lead and the game appeared to be slipping away from the Blackhawks.
But Poyer hit one-of -two from the line, Trinity Boschee and Tessa Jensen scored on back-to-back possessions before Trista White got a pair of buckets to carve the difference to a single point. A Campbell basket in the paint put Hanson up four headed to the final frame.
Poyer and Jensen each found open shots in the opening moments of the fourth and the score was tied.
Guericke hit one of two and then Campbell did the same on the next Hanson possession to go back up by two, but Jensen hit a 15-foot jumper on the right side to tie the score, then Trista White scored on a nice move on the baseline to stake the Blackhawks to a 45-43 lead.
Guericke got fouled and made both free throws to again tie the game, but Jensen, who scored six of her eight points in the final four minutes of the game somehow found herself wide open to make it 47-45. Guericke hit one of two on the next Hanson possession and the Blackhawks got the ball with 49 seconds left and the lead.
It nearly didn’t pan out, as Hanson pressured the ball and Sanborn Central-Woonsocket - which was out of timeouts - was forced to try to get an inbounds pass with only three seconds on the shot clock. Poyer found Jensen, who missed the shot, but Poyer crashed the boards, as she had much of the second half, and got the putback.

Hanson had the ball with nearly 10 seconds to go and a timeout, but mishandled the ball and the game ended. The Blackhawks made a spirited defensive stand in the final eight minutes, as Hanson scored only five points, all from the free throw line.
Poyer and Trista White each scored 13 to lead the Blackhawks, and Poyer also claimed eight rebounds.
Hanson, which ends the year with a record of 10-11, got 12 points from Guericke and 11 from Morgan Huber. Campbell grabbed eight rebounds.


Sanborn Central-Woonsocket    11 22 37 49
Hanson                       12 32 41 46
Hanson (10-11): Mekiah Campbell 4 1-2 9; Morgan Huber 4 0-0 11; Elle Tuschen 1 0-0 2; Megan Guericke 3 4-6 12; Elizabeth Arend 2 2-3 7; Jacy Waldera 2 0-0 5. Totals: 16 7-11 46.
Sanborn Central-Woonsocket (16-6): Megan Poyer 6 1-4 13; Abby Vermeulen 2 0-0 6; Tessa Jensen 4 0-0 8; Trinity Boschee 3 0-0 6; Kaylee White 0 1-3 1; Trista White 5 2-2 13. Totals: 20 4-9 49.
FG: SCW - 20-51 39%; H - 16-43 37%. 3-pt FG: SCW - 3-15 20% (Vermeulen 2, White); H - 7-22 32% (Huber 3, Guericke 2, Arend and Waldera). Rebounds: SCW - 31 (Poyer 7); H - 32 (Campbell 7). TO: SCW - 4; H - 8. Fouls: SCW - 12; H - 8.