CROTHERSVILLE
In a 48-hour span, Crothersville’s girls basketball team went from playing one of its worst games of the season to one of its best.
After falling to Rising Sun, a squad that had a singular win on its season Tuesday, the Tigers posted a win over one of their biggest rivals Thursday.
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The Tigers (8-5) avenged a 12-point season-opening loss to West Washington by registering a 53-44 win against the Senators (9-5) last night.
In the first half, the Tigers came out firing.
Piper Hensley and Makinzee Isley each hit 3-pointers before Maddie Riley got a basket to go to put the Tigers up 8-0 two minutes into the game.
The Senators answered with a 5-0 run before Hensley hit another trey to extend the Tigers’ lead to seven.
At the end of eight minutes of play, the Tigers led 13-9.
The Senators came within striking distance at 18-16, with 4:31 left in the second quarter, before the Tigers finished the second half on another mini 5-0 run.
At the break, the Tigers led 23-16 behind 12 points from Hensley.
The Tigers outrebounded the Senators 21-14 in the first 16 minutes.
In the third quarter, the Tigers opened the half with six straight points.
In the final 3:49 of the period, the Tigers added another five points to lead 37-26 going into the final eight minutes of play.
While the Senators added 16 points in the fourth quarter, the Tigers sank 11 of 15 free throws to secure the victory.
Hensley led the Tigers with 17 points. She is 15 points short of hitting 1,000 points for her career.
Isley added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Riley totaled 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Kassidy Keltner topped the Senators with 15 points and Sara Stice added 10.
On the boards, the Tigers won the glass 40-21.
CHS had 18 turnovers to the Senators’ 13.
Going into the game, Tigers coach Kevin Hensley shook up the lineup by inserting Grace Wilson and Cook.
“Everyone played into their roles tonight,” coach Hensley said. “Makinzee was huge for us. She is getting rebounds, and that’s a big key for our team.”
The Tigers travel to Shawe Memorial tonight for a varsity girls-boys doubleheader.
“I know we are capable of beating any team on our schedule, but we are also capable of losing to any team on our schedule,” Hensley said. “This was a great team that we beat. We just need to keep playing harder.
If we meet them again in sectional, it will be a battle.”