A new champion of the Hiawatha Invitational was going to be crowned for the first time in quite a long time this year no matter who won the championship matchup. The Lady Raiders of Nemaha Valley took early control of the game and beat the Lady Trojans of Troy to capture Nemaha Valley's fifth HIT tournament crown, and first since 2008. Marysville took third with a win over Rock Creek in overtime. Falls City eked out a win over Horton for fifth place and Hiawatha snapped a 35-game losing streak to beat Jackson Heights for seventh place.

THREE POINT RESULTS

1. Madi Marriott – Troy
2. Desirai Dawkins – Falls City
3. Annie Weingart - Hiawatha
4. Lillie Schmitz – Rock Creek

FREE THROW RESULTS

1. Rachel Baumgartner – Nemaha Valley
2. Winter Henry—Rock Creek
3. Allison Manley – Marysville
4. Elizabeth Bauman – Falls City

Final Bracket -- click here

7th Place -- Hiawatha 47, Jackson Heights 40

It's been a hard road for the Hiawatha Redhawks over the last couple of years as they had a 35-game losing streak coming into the contest against Jackson Heights for seventh place at this year's Hiawatha Invitational, but fortune was on the Redhawks side on Saturday on their home floor. Both the Redhawks and Cobras searching for their first win of the season, and it would be the Redhawks earning that illustrious win downing Jackson Heights 47-40.

Hot shooting by senior, Sophia Fortmeyer sparked the Redhawks on the day as she dropped 20 points, her partner in the backcourt, Miracle Clark, chipped in 10 points for Hiawatha as the only other player in double figures.

Jackson Heights was lead by freshman, Katelin Strube, and sophomore, Payton Thomas as they both tallied double digits with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

With the win Hiawatha captured seventh place in the tournament and earned their first win this season (1-11) and snapped a 35-game losing streak. Jackson Heights with the loss falls to 0-14 on the season.

5th Place -- Falls City 40, Horton 38

In a tournament that hadn't featured many single digit games this game proved to be the second one of the day and the Falls City Tigers held on for a two-point win over the Horton Chargers, 40-38.

Tigers on the day were lead by a pair of seniors in Claire Poppe and Tressa Chandler who both scored double figures with 15 and 12 points each. Horton was lead on the day by sophomore, Sarah Coversup who finished with 14 points, as the only Charger in double figures.

Falls City captured fifth place in this year's HIT tournament with the win and improved to 11-8 on the season. While, Horton with the loss fell to 7-6 on the year.

3rd Place -- Marysville 58, Rock Creek 55

For the past few years Marysville and Rock Creek usually had been meeting up in the championship game of the HIT tournament but this year the matchup between the Bulldogs and Mustangs was for 3rd place. Each team played a balanced contest with Rock Creek taking control of the game in the third quarter behind a 19-7 period, but Marysville answered with a 17-7 fourth to tie the game and force overtime.

Marysville then pushed ahead with a late three-pointer by senior, Dani Schwarz to win the game 58-55 in overtime. Schwarz lead the Bulldogs with 16 points on the night which included a few three-pointers on the day. Three other Bulldogs joined her in double figures with freshman, Rachel Heiman and junior, Tristin Wicks each chipped in 11 points and junior, Abi Degenhardt added 10 of her own.

For Rock Creek senior, Megan Srna in the loss lead the Mustangs with 18 points, while freshman, Alli Snapp added 15 points.

Marysville came from behind and pushed to the win in overtime to take third in the HIT tournament this year and improve to 8-3 on the season. Rock Creek with the loss falls to 5-7 on the season.

Championship -- Nemaha Valley 52, Troy 28

Taste of defeat has been something foreign to both Troy and Nemaha Valley in 2013 coming out of the holiday break as the Trojans had won five straight and the Raiders six straight coming into Saturday's championship game. Something had to give and with the pressure defense from Nemaha Valley it was Troy giving up the ball to the tune of multiple turnovers, to push Nemaha Valley to the 52-28 win and their fifth HIT tournament crown.

The Lady Raiders started the game with a 7-0 run but only lead a 9-5 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter the defense of Nemaha Valley sparked their offense off of plenty of Troy turnovers as the Raiders used a 18-3 second quarter to lead it 27-8 at the half. The lead continued to balloon as Nemaha Valley used a 21-3 third quarter to up the game away.

The sister act of Jill and Jaci Swart really helped pace the way for NV as Jill drained four three's for her 12 points and Jaci added 10 points of her own. Sophomore, Kennedy McKernan chipped in double figures too for her best game of the season as she had 10 points.

With the win Nemaha Valley has won seven straight and are unbeaten in 2013, while improving to 9-4 on the season and capturing the HIT tournament title for the fifth time in school history. Troy with the loss falls to 8-4 on the season and finishes second in their final HIT tournament as they move to the Twin Valley League next year.