Grace Wilson and her Crothersville teammates got off to a hot start against Cannelton Monday night and coasted to a 55-23 win in a girls’ non-conference basketball game.
Wilson, the only senior on the floor for the Tigers, hit three deuces and a 3-pointer to help her team take a 17-4 lead at the end of the quarter.
Zoe Spangler, who finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, had two baskets in the opening period and topped the Tigers in rebounds in the quarter with 7.
Wilson said she likes the way the Tigers have improved, and she has gained confidence in her shooting.
“At the beginning of the season my shot was not there at all, but I’m starting to get some rhythm,” she said. “I’d say we’re starting to get there on offense.”
Wilson said she feels like the defense is also getting better and overall.
“I think we’re starting to click,” Wilson said. “I think we just have to work as a team, always come in focused and just always be ready for our opponent.”
Kennadi Lakins had another big night on the boards with 18 rebounds (she had 16 Saturday) to go along with 12 points.
She has scored 44 points in her last three games and said she is also gaining confidence in her scoring.
“I have a lot of confidence,” Lakins said. “I like shooting threes, but lately where everyone is letting me shoot out there I’ve been driving more.”
She said she has seen improvement in her teammates.
“We’re finally starting to get that rhythm and we’re finally starting to work together and looking for each-other when we’re out there,” Lakins said.
“We definitely need to play smarter, and we need to not force anything because we say things in the huddle that we need to do. In reality we need to be patient and let things happen, not force it.”
Lakins said the Tigers need to make better decisions on defense.
“They split us on defense on the top quite a bit tonight,” she said. “We have to work on that in practice. We always struggle in the second quarter because our coach says he can’t talk to us when we’re at the other end and we don’t communicate that well on the other end.”
Lakins opened her scoring with a 3-pointer in the second period, and added a basket and free throw in that quarter to help the Tigers to a 30-13 lead at the half.
The Tigers outscored the bulldogs 14-7 in the third to take a 44-20 lead into the fourth period. Spangler scored back-to-back baskets in the period, and the Tigers closed the quarter on a 6-0 run, then scored the first 7 points of the fourth.
Spangler topped the Tigers with 18 points. Wilson finished with 15 and Lakins 12.
Tigers coach Kevin Hensley said, “I’ve been trying to get, even our bench players, up to par with everyone else. When we get in foul trouble they have to be able to contribute.
“What we were trying to do tonight is work a lot of our offenses, trying to figure out where the ball was supposed to be at certain points.”
Overall, Hensley liked what he saw.
“I was proud of all the girls tonight,” he said. “They’re getting it a little bit at a time. We made way too many (14 turnovers) and that is something we’ve got to get better at. We don’t use our heads sometimes.”
Six of the seven girls who played for Crothersville got into the scoring column, and all seven girls had three or more rebounds as the team had 60.
Kendall Hale topped the Bulldogs (0-8) with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Tigers (2-4) host West Washington Thursday night.
“That will tell us where we’re at,” Hensley said. “West Washington is always a good opponent to go against and they’re a sectional opponent.”
Crothersville 55, Cannelton 23
Crothersville;17;13;14;11;-55
Cannelton;4;9;7;3;-23
Crothersville (0-4) — Zoe Spangler 8 0-4 18, Kennadi Lakins 5 1-3 12, Grace Wilson 7 0-0 15, Ella Plasse 0 3-6 3, Tiessa Stevens 2 0-0 4, Shania Hyland 1 0-0 3, Elayna Ord 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-13 55
Cannelton (0-8) — Hannah Gray 1 1-2 3, Kendall Hale 4 1-1 10, Hannah Price 3 1-2 9, Charlotte Entwhistle 0 1-2 1, Caitlyn Chesterfield, Shilah McMahon 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 4-7 23
3-point goals: CHS (Spangler 2, Lakins, Wilson, Hyland) Cannelton (Price 2, Hale)
Rebounds: CHS 60 (Lakins 18, Spangler 17, Stevens 7), Cannelton 25 (Hale 10, Gray 9)
Fouls: CHS 7, Cannelton 8
Turnovers: CHS 14, Cannelton 10