Receiving special honors at Crothersville’s winter sports awards program were, front from left, Morgan Womack, Hali Burton, Ally Mendoza, Kendall Barry, Matty Deaton, Elayna Ord, Destiny Lawrence and Hayden Pilgrim; back row are Evan Lanning, Lucas Hilton, Corey Reynolds, Beau Napier, Curtis Thompson, Will Ragan, Corey Kelshaw and Baron Riley.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
CROTHERSVILLE — Seniors Preston West and Hali Burton received multiple awards at the Crothersville Junior-Senior High School winter athletic awards program at the school Monday night.
High school and middle school cheerleaders and the middle school basketball teams also were honored.
West received the free throw and assists awards, and he was named to the all-Southern Athletic Conference team and to the New Washington all-sectional team.
He topped the Tigers in scoring with 446 points in 22 games for an average of 20.3 points per game.
His high games were 30 against South Decatur and 26 against Waldron and Cannelton.
Burton received the assists, free throw and 3-point awards for the Lady Tigers.
She also waa named to the Rising Sun all-sectional team.
Burton topped the CHS girls in scoring with an average of 6.6 points per game with high games of 20 against Union Dugger and 14 against Martinsville Tabernacle.
Boys varsity coach Bryant Layman presented the Tiger mental attitude award to Elijah Plasse, the coaches award to Corey Kelshaw, the most improved trophy to Dirk Crater, the rebound award to Curtis Thompson, the defensive trophy to Lucas Hilton and the 3-point award to Beau Napier.
“It was a roller coaster season,” Layman said. “Over the summer, I felt like we could be a problem for some teams. It took us five games to get going.”
The Tigers started out 0-5 before they beat Brown County in the Henryville Holiday Tournament on Dec. 22. After losing the championship game to the host Hornets, the Tigers won four of their next five games.
The Tigers went 8-5 between Dec. 22 and Feb. 11 and finished the season 8-15, falling to Rising Sun in the New Washington Sectional.
“We got hot over a six-game stretch,” Bryant said. “Our defensive average was up and our defensive average was down from a year ago. We had a tough loss to Trinity Lutheran (64-58) and a close loss to Rising Sun (52-47). The boys gave everything they had.”
The junior varsity Tiger mental attitude award went to Will Ragan, Baron Riley received the assists award, Evan Lanning received the rebound trophy and Crater received the free throw award.
Lady Tigers head coach Kevin Hensley presented four other special awards.
He gave the defensive award to Matty Deaton, the rebound trophy to Kendall Berry, the most improved award to Morgan Womack, the mental attitude award to Ally Mendoza and the coaches award to Hayden Pilgrim.
“It was a tough season,” Hensley said. “We had two girls that had never played before and one girl that had only played basketball one season before this season.”
Because of injuries and suspensions, the team finished the season with five players.
“The girls never got a break,” Hensley said. “The fought through it. I’m so proud of them. We’ll have more girls (13) next year. It’s going to be fun.”
The boys and girls basketball teams were honored by the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association. The entire girls team made the honors court for having a grade point average of 3.6, and Riley, Hilton, Plasse, Lanning, Crater and Reynolds were named to the honors court for the boys.
Elayna Ord received the most improved varsity cheerleader award with Deaton being named the best all-around cheerleader and Destiny Lawrence receiving the mental attitude award.
Laekon Colwell received the JV cheerleader most improved award, Emily Lanning received the mental attitude award and Zoey Prince was named the best all-around JV cheerleader.
Junior high award winners
Girls basketball
Eighth grade
Rebound award: Kendra Kelshaw
Assists: Kelsie Walker
Free throws: Rayleigh Lewis
Most improved: Ella Niccum
Mental attitude: Jazlin Gibson
Sixth grade
Rebound: Lewis
Assists: Mae Breedlove
Free throws: Breedlove
Most improved: Ashtyn Allman
Mental attitude: Lewis
Boys basketball
Eighth grade
Rebound: Triston Tatlock
Assists: Kayleb Lauderbaugh
Free throws: Carter Jones
Most improved: Brayden Heath
Mental attitude: Jude Howard
Seventh grade
Rebounds: Tyler Hilton
Assists: Carter Jones
Free throws: Jones
Most improved: Lauderbaugh
Mental attitude: Blaine Lewis
Cheerleaders
Tiger mental attitude: Elise Prince
Most improved: Emma Sawyer
Best all-around: Kayla Hollan