EDINBURGH
In a way, the consolation prize was winning.
That’s because West Washington’s 38-27 victory over Crothersville advanced the Senators to face Trinity Lutheran in tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game here, a task that might seem akin to taking on the Indiana Fever of the WNBA instead of another Class 1A school.
Trinity has been ranked first in the division most of the season and showed its stuff in the opener of this double-header Friday night, overwhelming Shawe Memorial, 86-23.
This contest, however, shaped up as likely to produce more excitement. Crothersville edged the Senators, 42-39, in overtime in December. Trinity beat Crothersville by about 60 points in November, but hasn’t faced West Washington.
Most of the first quarter of Tigers-Senators it seemed nobody was interested in winning. In the words of famed announcer Dick Vitale, it was “Turnover City, baby.”
It was also missed Lay-up City for Crothersville, the Tigers clanging inside opportunities that cost them.
West Washington started with the same unsteady hand, also making more misplays than good plays until the ball came to rest on the perimeter in the hands of guard Lexi Griffiths, who caught fire, hitting three 3-pointers with 10 points in the period. That left the Tigers behind 13-2 after eight minutes.
The combined distance of Crothersville misses was about eight feet. The combined distance of West Washington makes was about eight miles.
While Crothersville (6-12) had a bye into this semi-final game, West Washington (8-14) eliminated Edinburgh, 43-40, earlier in the week. Perhaps the Senators were sharper because they didn’t have as long a layoff after the conclusion of the regular season.
The Tigers were peppier and more accurate in the second period, scoring the first nine points of the quarter and pulling to within 21-13 at halftime with the Senators mustering just eight points in that period.
That set the stage for a second-half Tiger rally. Only there wasn’t one. Not a hint of one. Crothersville scored zero points in the third quarter. A Senators press forced errors, but the Tigers also missed short shots while being out-scored 11-0. So it was 32-13 with one quarter to go.
When Tiger Zoe Spangler put in a follow-up shot at about 6:45 of the fourth quarter, it was Crothersville’s first points in more than 12 minutes.
Crothersville fell behind by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, but a brief flurry of scoring brought the Tigers closer near the end when the Senators were playing back-ups. Griffiths was high scorer for the winners with 17 points.
Kennadi Lakins was high point-getter for Crothersville with 7. Spangler and Grace Wilson each added 6. Addy Cole and Ella Plasse contributed 4 points each. Plasse had a team-high 8 rebounds.
It was the final high school game for Cole and Wilson, the only two seniors on the team.