Bulletin board material works.  Just ask the Hill-Murray Pioneers.  The Class AAA runner-up from last winter came into its Breakdown Sports Tip Off Classic game against Eden Prairie as the underdogs in most people's eyes.  They left it with a bit more respect, as a big second-half flurry led Hill-Murray to an impressive 59-45 victory.

"We just came into this game as really wanting to get it.  We were underdogs and there were articles about us saying that we were going to lose," said senior center Bethany Doolittle.  "We got mad and angry and got out there and gave it all we had."

For the first half, Eden Prairie looked like it would fulfill predictions, leading 24-20.  But Hill-Murray came out of the intermission on fire, outscoring the Eagles 39-21 in the second half.  Doolittle scored 17 of her game-high 22 points and senior Corrine McCallum netted 16 of her 19 points over the final 20 minutes.

"We knew that we had the fire within us as a team. We all just worked together as a team and took all the negative energy and predictions and took it into the game," said Doolittle.

It also took some halftime adjustments. Pioneers' coach Erin Herman noted that her team needed to play zone to take their driving out of the game.  But she was particularly enthused by her team's defensive rebounding, which limited the Eagles' shooters to just one chance per possession.

"We just had to figure out what was going to work for us," said Herman.

Morgan Van Riper-Rose and Jackie Johnson led Eden Prairie with 13 points each, while Shayne Mullaney added 11.

Bethany Doolittle, Hill-Murray
Doolittle, a senior center committed to Iowa, came alive after intermission, scoring 17 of her game-high 22 points to pace Hill-Murray to a 59-45 victory over Eden Prairie.  The Class AAA runner-up from last winter trailed by four at intermission, but outscored the Eagles 39-21 in the second half.  Doolittle was dominant in the paint, scoring with Eagles' draped on her and also gathering in defensive rebounds that limited Eden Prairie to just one shot on the offensive end.

Score by half: Hill-Murray 20-39--59, Eden Prairie 24-21--45

Eden Prairie: Van Riper-Rose 13, Johnson 13, Mullaney 11, Saxton 4, Willeck 2, Davis 1, Tibbetts 1

Hill-Murray: Doolittle 22, McCallum 19, Cichy 8, Hangge 6, Rustad 2, Van Dyk 2