HANGING IN THE BALANCE — St. Clair’s Kayli Hinze (front left) and Brooklin Hinze (white No. 12), along with Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther’s Jenna Balcom (23) and Mallery Geistfeld (purple No. 12), pursue the high-bouncing free basketball during Valley Conference action Monday night in Northrop. St. Clair’s Courtney Loeffler (back left) and Tori Ward (back middle), along with the Jaguars’ Lydia Fox, watch the action. (Photo by Greg Abel)

NORTHROP — St. Clair’s basketball siblings lit up the scoreboard in Northrop on Monday night.

Junior point forward Kayli Hinze and eighth-grade shooting guard Brooklin Hinze combined for a staggering 46 points and 24 rebounds to help the visiting Cyclones deliver a Valley Conference knockout to the Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther Jaguars.

Kayli Hinze neared rare triple-double territory by erupting for game-bests of 28 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists to top St. Clair’s 74-62 comeback victory over the Jaguars.

Brooklin Hinze collected 18 points — including four 3-pointers — and seven rebounds as St. Clair transformed a one-point halftime deficit into a 12-point win by outscoring the Jaguars 43-30 in the second half.

“With our lack of size, we definitely have to force the tempo with our full-court pressure,” St. Clair head coach Brian Noyes said in reference to his lineup that features only one starter — Madison Daly — taller than 5-feet-7. “Turning them over and then hitting our 3s at the right times in the game allowed us to go on a key spurt right before the end of the first half.”

Olivia Mattson’s right-wing runner, back-to-back cutters from Brooke Grathwohl and Katelyn Diegnau’s putback basket transformed the Jaguars’ early 13-10 deficit into a five-point lead, but the home team could not sustain it due to the Cyclones’ timely long-distance shooting with 4 1/2 minutes to go before intermission.

Kayli Hinze nailed a right-wing trey, Brooklin Hinze sank a 3-ball from the left corner and teammate Stephanie Cink buried back-to-back right-side trifectas to swing a 29-25 lead to St. Clair.

Grathwohl, who topped the Jaguars with 16 points, triggered GHECTML’s counter-punch by hitting a runner off a McKenna Benck assist before Diegnau hit a solo free throw, Benck rimmed in a runner and Mattson scooped home a drive for a 32-29 margin.

Kayli Hinze, however, had the last word by swooshing a pull-up runner in the paint to beat the buzzer and inch the Cyclones within one by the break.

Grathwohl, Diegnau and Jenna Balcom, however, powered the Jaguars to an eventual 45-39 lead by pounding the basketball inside the lane to open the second half.

The two Valley rivals punched and counter-punched to the game’s fifth and final tie at 54-all before Brooklin Hinze single-handedly delivered an 8-0 run to put the Cyclones ahead for good.

“That was a pivotal point in the game when the younger (Brooklin) Hinze made three consecutive 3s down the stretch,” said Jaguars’ head coach T.J. Pytleski. “We just didn’t recover from that.”

In fact, St. Clair closed out the game by outscoring GHECTML by a 20-8 margin during the final 5 minutes of regulation. Tori Ward contributed four of her 10 points during the final 1:40, while Kayli Hinze netted half of the Cyclones’ final 16 points.

Cink finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three steals for St. Clair.

Balcom produced a double-double performance of 10 points, a team-best 10 rebounds and a team-leading six assists for the Jaguars. Diegnau neared double-double territory by scoring 15 points and grabbing eight boards to go with a game-best five blocked shots.

Mattson provided eight points and nine rebounds off the Jaguars’ bench, while Mallery Geistfeld chipped in seven points.

The Jaguars (3-2) travel to Cleveland tonight for another conference game, while St. Clair (3-3) plays host to New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva on Thursday night.

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St. Clair 31-43–74

GHECTML 32-30–62

GHECTML (62)

Geistfeld 3-8 0-0 7, Balcom 3-7 3-7 10, Diegnau 4-11 7-12 15, Grathwohl 8-14 0-0 16, Benck 2-4 1-2 6, Mattson 4-6 0-3 8, Fox 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 11-24 62.

ST. CLAIR (74)

Cink 5-22 0-0 13, K. Hinze 9-23 8-14 28, B. Hinze 7-17 0-0 18, Daly 2-4 1-2 5, Ward 3-4 4-6 10, Loeffler 0-1 0-0 0, I. Hansen 0-1 0-0 0, E. Hansen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-72 13-22 74.

3-pointers: St. Clair 9-27 (B. Hinze 3-9, Cink 3-12, K. Hinze 2-6); GHECTML 3-6 (Geistfeld 1-1, Benck 1-2, Balcom 1-2, Fox 0-1). Fouled out: Daly (SC) and Benck (GHECTML). Rebounds: St. Clair 45 (K. Hinze 17, B. Hinze 7); GHECTML 36 (Balcom 10, Mattson 9, Diegnau 8). Assists: St. Clair 12 (K. Hinze 7); GHECTML 12 (Balcom 6). Steals: St. Clair 15 (K. Hinze and Daly 4 each); GHECTML 6. Blocked shots: GHECTML 7 (Diegnau 5).

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Martin County West 64, Madelia 20 — Kari Matejka blistered the Madelia gymnasium nets on three 3-pointers to highlight her game-best 21-point performance to stampede the Mavericks to a 44-point rout over the Blackhawks on Monday night.

Emily Anderson poured in 12 of her 16 points during the opening 18-minute half to help MCW build a 19-point lead by intermission.

Thea Anderson contributed eight points to the Mavericks’ winning ways, Avery Sanders tallied six points, while Lucy Larson chipped in four points.

Martin County West (2-5) is idle until hitting the road to Cleveland for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, Dec. 30.