Amarah Coleman, Homewood-Flossmoor clobber Hillcrest

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Amarah Coleman led the way this time.

But who knows who it’ll be the next?

Homewood-Flossmoor coach Tony Smith was an equal-opportunity provider for his 17 players in Thursday night’s season-opening 91-38 victory over Hillcrest.

And it wasn’t just during the fourth quarter, either.

At the half it was only a 35-24 proposition, and 14 Vikings had already seen the floor.

“I love it,” Coleman said. “It gives everybody a chance to play hard and show what they have.”

Coleman paced the host Vikings with 22 points and seven rebounds. Faith Suggs added 16 points and 11 rebounds, Destiny Harris 14 points and Kristen Moore 10 points.

Tierra Sanders had 10 points and six rebounds, Nadika Jackson eight points and five rebounds and Sherrise Heady eight rebounds for Hillcrest.

Much was made in the preseason of H-F, which not only returned two key players in Jaiveonna Norris and Ashley Johnson, but also had five transfers from area schools.

It was Hillcrest, however, that came out with a flourish.

The Hawks got a three-pointer at the start from Jackson and after a three-point play by Shayla Joyner led 10-3 with 2:54 remaining in the first period.

“It was just first-game jitters,” Coleman said. “We came out all excited. All we had to do was calm down and play ball.”

Coleman’s three-pointer ignited an 11-0 run by the Vikings to end the quarter.

Hillcrest stuck around the rest of the half and only trailed by 11 at intermission, but got the worst end of 31 fouls called, with Tanzania Sherrill and Sanders both collecting four.

H-F cut loose in the third period, scoring the first 21 points and doubling its output of the first half to build a 70-32 lead.

“Everything is new now. We’re just trying to find a formula,” Smith said. “Once they get it going, we’re going to be a pretty good group. We’ve got a lot of kids here that can play and we’re ready for them to get it all together.”

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