The Hoopeston Area High School girls’ and boys’ basketball teams opened their seasons this week.
After falling to Urbana University High and Tri-County in their first games of the Comet Classic on Saturday at Oakwood High School, the Lady Cornjerkers righted the ship and defeated Westville Monday night.
Hoopeston Area defeated Westville 32-26.
Hoopeston Area trailed 27-22 entering the fourth quarter, but Brylie Cox scored five of her seven points in that last period to shove her team forward. Klaire Pilcher’s 10 points and Lacie Breymeyer’s nine points led the victors overall.
The final day of the Comet Classic will be Friday. The Lady Cornjerkers will return to action after the Comet Classic on Dec. 6 when they host their first home game of the season Dec. 6 against Westville.
The Hoopeston Area Cornjerkers took on Tri-Point in their first game at the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Turkey Tournament Monday.
The Cornjerkers fell to Tri-Point in heartbreaking fashion, suffering a razor-thin 55-54 defeat.
Tri-Point took an early 11-3 lead in the first quarter, but Hoopeston Area battled back and put up 19 points in the second quarter. However, Tri-Point kept pace with them and put 15 of their own.
Tri-Point went into the half with a narrow lead, but Hoopeston Area again stepped up on offense in the third quarter and nearly doubled Tri-Point’s offensive output, outscoring them 22-13.
Hoopeston Area went into the fourth quarter with a 44-39 lead, but couldn’t put the game away as Tri-Point rallied and outscored the Cornjerkers 16-10 and took home a narrow victory.
Hoopeston Area senior Nick Hofer led the Cornjerkers with 15 points, followed closed by junior Anthony Zamora’s 13 points. Preston VanDeVeer had nine points, Owen Root had eight, Mason Rush had five and Wyatt Eisenmann had four.
The Cornjerkers were back in action Tuesday night when they faced Prairie Central and they will return to action Friday when they face Lexington at 1 p.m. during the GCMS Turkey Tourney. The final day of the tournament will be on Saturday. Hoopeston Area will host their first home game of the season Nov. 30 when they take on Paxton-Buckley-Loda.