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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
Crawfordsville junior Alex Gasaway makes a no-look pass to senior Betty Elliott. |
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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
Crawfordsville senior Mandi Johnson was honored before Monday’s game
against Lafayette Central Catholic and was presented the game ball from
this past Saturday, when she scored her 1,000th-career point against
West Lafayette Harrison. |
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| Girls basketball
Monday
At Crawfordsville
Crawfordsville 42,
Lafayette Central Catholic 39
Lafayette Central Catholic 11 9 7 12 – 39
Crawfordsville 11 15 5 11 – 42
Scoring:
Lafayette Central Catholic – Kinsey Arnold 2-6 0-0 6, Jessica Murphy
2-7 1-1 5, Molly King 2-5 6-8 10, Olivia Walker 2-11 2-2 8, Sarah Burks
3-10 2-2 8, Sami Gruse 0-2 0-0 0, Katy Crowe 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Adams
0-1 1-2 1, Brittany Adams 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 11-42 13-17 39.
Crawfordsville – Lexi Stevens 1-5 2-4 5, Kylie Justus 1-4 4-4 6, Haley
Grundy 1-2 1-3 3, Mandi Johnson 6-18 4-6 16, Alex Gasaway 5-12 0-0 10,
Katy Conklin 0-0 0-2 0, Betty Elliott 1-4 0-0 2, Stephanie Wethington
0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-45 11-19 42.
Three-point shooting:
Lafayette Central Catholic 4-12 (Arnold 2-6, Walker 2-4, Burks 0-1,
Adams 0-1), Crawfordsville 1-9 (Stevens 1-4, Justus 0-3, Johnson 0-1,
Gasaway 0-1)
Rebounds: Lafayette Central Catholic 35 (Burks 7, Arnold 6, King 5), Crawfordsville 33 (Johnson 10, Elliott 7)
Fouls: Lafayette Central Catholic 17, Crawfordsville 16
Turnovers: Lafayette Central Catholic 23, Crawfordsville 16
Records: Crawfordsville 13-1, Lafayette Central Catholic 7-5
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Reprinted courtesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
www.thepaper24-7.com
By John Groth
Sports Editor
Crawfordsville’s tentative fourth-quarter play nearly cost them Monday night.
They could have likely said goodbye to their top-10 ranking and had to deal with an extremely disappointing defeat.
But when the Athenians’ girls basketball team needed a game-saving play, their big three came up with the heroics.
Class
3A No. 6 Crawfordsville survived a second-half comeback, getting nine
fourth-quarter points from seniors Mandi Johnson and Lexi Stevens and a
key block by junior Alex Gasaway in the final seconds for a 42-39 win
over visiting Lafayette Central Catholic.
“We’ve won close
games against Danville and now Lafayette Central Catholic,”
Crawfordsville coach Darren Haas said. “The girls are having to handle
a little more of the pressure. I think it’s a good thing. We’re not
taking care of the ball. We didn’t aggressively go to the basket. We
had a lot of tentative play. Unfortunately, tentative play doesn’t lead
to anything good.”
For the second time in four games, the Athenians (13-1) let a double-digit second-half lead disappear.
Two weeks ago, Crawfordsville fell apart against Class 3A No. 3 Benton Central and ended up with its first loss.
But Monday night, the Athenians hung on for the win with defense.
Leading 39-29 with 5:20 left in the fourth quarter, Crawfordsville looked like it had sealed this game up.
Johnson,
who finished with a game-high 16 points, had scored six of the
Athenians’ first eight fourth-quarter points, and in turn, had helped
push their lead to ouble-digits for the first time.
Instead, Crawfordsville’s offense became hesitant.
Lafayette
Central Catholic (7-5) forced Crawfordsville into two straight
turnovers, scoring off both. Senior Kinsey Arnold and sophomore Olivia
Walker hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut lead to just 39-35 with
3:03 to play.
Sophomore Molly King added two free throws and the lead was just two with 2:35 remaining.
After both teams traded baskets, the Knights had a chance to tie the game with under a minute left.
That’s when the Athenians’ defense recovered.
Stevens
tied up a Lafayette Central Catholic player and forced a jump ball,
with the possession arrow giving the ball back to Crawfordsville with
50.6 seconds left.
Then, with 20.7 seconds left, she hit the first of two free throws to give Crawfordsville a 42-39 edge.
Lafayette Central Catholic still had one last chance.
Senior
Sarah Burks missed a three-pointer with eight seconds left. Walker
grabbed the rebound and tried to launch a three from the right wing.
But Gasaway (10 points) blocked the shot and the ball was left bouncing on the court as time expired.
Crawfordsville forced 23 turnovers, none bigger than Stevens’ late fourth-quarter tie-up.
Her heads-up play resulted in a jump ball and gave the Athenians’ a possession when they needed one.
“We
changed our defense and did a few more traps,” said Johnson, who went
only 6-of-18 from the field. “As a team, we knew the game was close and
defensively we had to pick it up and that’s what we did.”
King
led the Knights with 10 points, while Burks added eight. Lafayette
Central Catholic had won six straight games before Monday night’s loss.
Crawfordsville struggled with its shooting from all areas.
The
Athenians went just 15-of-45 (33.3 percent) from the field, made only
11 of 19 free-throw attempts (57.9 percent) and hit just 1-of-9 (11.1
percent) shots from three-point range.
But what frustrated Haas the most was the number of missed short inside shots.
After
the Athenians missed their third straight lay-up in a two-minute span
late in the fourth quarter, he slammed his clipboard down on the court
in frustration.
Crawfordsville next plays Sagamore Athletic Conference rival Tri-West on Thursday and Haas hopes they clear up the problem.
“We’re
getting the shots we want. We just keep missing them,” Haas said. “If I
knew the problem, this wouldn’t be happening. Maybe I should just
ignore it and say ‘we’re not shooting anymore lay-ups in practice.’ Do
a little reverse psychology.”
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