Correspondent photo / Lowell Spencer. Girard point guard Stephen Sims (4) calls out a play on Saturday at Poland during the Indians’ loss to Hickory.

POLAND — Although the weather may not have been frigid outside the Poland Seminary High School gym on Saturday afternoon for the United Way Holiday Basketball Tournament, the Girard Indians found their shooting to be ice cold in a 55-25 defeat to the Hickory Hornets.

With the loss, the Indians fell to 0-2 to start the season. The Hornets are off to a hot start as they are 3-0, winning twice in consecutive days.

The combination of cold shooting and costly turnovers doomed the Indians on the day. They would only hit 18% of their shots from the field in the first half and commit 10 turnovers. They would finish the contest with 21 turnovers.

“It’s going to be that way. We’re just not preparing the right way to get ready for a varsity game right now,” Indians head coach Craig Hannon said. “I think our effort is there during a game, and we are playing hard. Defensively we have done some good things. But before we get to the games and practices, we need to do a better job of working on those small things like taking care of the basketball and finishing around the rim. Until we do that, it’s going to be a struggle. I think we will do it. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.”

The Hornets conversely were hot as they hit 49% of their shots from the field through the first three periods. They also only turned the ball over a total of 12 times in the contest.

“We were very unselfish tonight. When we came out, we were a little bit slow, but then we started to knock down some shots,” Hornets coach Christopher Mele said. “We dictated things defensively. That was big for us. We got some nice layups off of our defense and transition points.”

Trevor Borowicz came off the bench to lead the Hornets with 16 points in the game while Landon Bean added 13 and Rylan Dye chipped in 11. Bean also controlled the boards with 9 rebounds.

“That is a talented team,” Hannon said. “I have a lot of respect for Chris and that program. We went to the same high school, and I have followed his group. So I knew that they would come here ready to play. They are long, athletic and they move well, and they are well coached. A lot of the game had to do with them and their activity level.”

However, it was the Indians who started out looking solid and ready to pick up the victory in the first six minutes of the contest. When Indians guard Nick Rafferty buried a three at the 2:53 mark of the opening period, Girard held its only lead in the game at 7-6. But after that, the game started to significantly slant toward the Hornets.

Hickory would close the first quarter with a 6-0 run to hold a 12-7 lead at the close of the frame. That run would carry over into the second period when they went on a 15-0 run, a 21-0 run overall between the two quarters. Following a steal and layup by Bean at the 2:11 mark of the stanza, the Hornets held a commanding 27-7 lead. They would go into the halftime break with a 27-12 advantage.

As dominating as the Hornets were in the final ten minutes of the first half, they seemed to turn up the intensity to start the third quarter. They began the period with an 8-0 run to extend their lead out to 23 points at 35-12. A basket by Girard guard Stephen Sims at the 4:35 mark finally broke the run. However, the Indians could not generate a run for themselves.

“We challenged our kids to try to be a little more intense,” Mele said. “That was a big turning point in the game. We were able to distance ourselves.”

The Hornets would close the third quarter with a 45-19 lead. They continued to keep the Indians from making any sustained run at them in the fourth quarter, as both teams substituted freely with the Hornets outscoring the Indians 10-6 in the frame.

The Indians did not have any players in double-digit scoring as Ahmad Curd and Stephen Sims each scored five points to lead them in the game. They would, however, record eight players in the scoring column. Curd also led Girard in rebounds with 10.

“Our effort was good. I don’t think our kids ever stopped playing,” Hannon said of the positives from the game. “Sometimes you look at the scoreboard and quit. We really bothered them at times with our defense. We just lacked in size. We will take what we can do defensively and hopefully get better offensively.”

The Hornets return to action on Tuesday night when they play at New Castle. The Indians also play again on Tuesday when they start NE-8 play at South Range.