Trinity Lutheran’s Laura Roeder moves the ball on offense as Crothersville’s Jazlin Gibson defends in the first half of Saturday night’s game. The Cougars won 67-28.
Trinity Lutheran’s Madison Keith prepares to go up with a shot as Crothersville’s Kendra Kelsahw defends during their game Saturdyay night. Other Tigers on defense are Jazlin Gibson and Isabella Riley.
Trinity Lutheran’s Zoey Dulaney tries to pass the ball underneath as Crothersville’s Jazlin Gibson defends during Saturday’s game.
CROTHERSVILLE- The Trinity Lutheran girls jumped on top of Crothersville 7-0 after two minutes and rolled to a 67-28 win in a game between sectional rivals on the Tigers’ floor on Saturday night.
Cougars Coach Darrin Keith was hoping his team could take control early, and they did, as Laura Roeder hit a 3-pointer two minutes in for a 7-0 lead.
Crothersville’s Kendra Kelshaw scored a layup three minutes into the game to make it a 7-2 score before the Cougars bounced back with a 6-0 run as Zoey Dulaney’s short jumper made it a 13-2 game, and Trinity led 17-7 at the end of the opening period.
Madison Keith got hot for the Cougars with three baskets and she grabbed three rebounds in the second period to spark the visitors to a 35-13 lead at the half.
Coach Keith had the Cougars set up a half-court man defense at the start of the game.
“We were about half and half what we were looking at tonight,” he said. “We want to pressure the ball more and make it harder for teams to get it inside. We’ve got to have our post players three-quarters deny the ball in the post also. We still have girls playing behind, and we’re trying to work on that.”
The Cougars scored 24 field goals, including five 3-pointers.
“We ran some good stuff,” Keith said. “I think we ran our plays well. At times, it kind of broke down, but then we got into just playing basketball, and that’s a good thing, I think.”
Tigers coach Curtis White said, “As I watch us play, I see a little more confidence in what we’re doing. I’ve got a very young team (seven freshmen, two sophomores), and I’ve got a lot of habits that we’ve got to break.
“It takes a little bit of time. You can’t break a lifetime of habits in two months. I’m starting to see better movement with the ball. I’m starting to see better shooting. I’m starting to see a little more action on the defense, and that gives me an uplift.”
The Cougars committed 10 of their 21 turnovers in the first period.
“When you’re a young team, it’s a lot about thought process and learning not to think and just play the game, being able to go with the flow of the game,” White said.
Jojo Clay was the high scorer for the Tigers with nine points and topped her team in rebounds with seven.
All 15 players that dressed for Trinity saw playing time. Keith was Trinity’s top scorer with 17 points, Marley Warren added 14 and Dulaney scored nine and Bailey Bonde eight off the bench. A total of eight players scored for Trinity.
Coach Keith said, “Morgan (Brewer) is going to be a player that is going to come in and she is going to play hard. She’s going to give me 50% of my minutes and kind of spell kids. In looking to the future, Zoey Dulaney is going to play. She’s a tough-nosed kid, and Bailey Bonde played some minutes today and she is going to continue to play.
“Those kids are going to get better, and that’s what we’re looking for. We’re trying to get some depth because it seems like we’ve always been six kids, seven kids if we’re lucky. We would like to get some depth where I could go eight, nine deep.”
Dulaney and Warren are freshmen, and Bonde is a sophomore.
The Cougars will travel to Providence on Tuesday night.
“We still need to work on our defense, and we need to work on hedging on the screens. We’re not doing a real good job on the hedging. We’re letting kids go where they want to go and we’re falling back, and we get out of position a lot,” coach Keith said.
Senior guard Liza Froedge was knocked down in the second period and went to the bench and didn’t play the rest of the night.
Keith said, “Hopefully, she heals up from taking a spill there. She was in good spirits after the game. I think she’ll be OK.”
The Tigers will host Columbus Christian on Saturday afternoon.
“One thing we definitely need to work on is free throws,” White said. “Our last game (against Edinburgh), we were 17 of 40. That cost us the game.
“A lot of it is just working on movement on defense, being able to step over and get help side, recognizing when a cut comes, how to shiver and how to force a player up the lane a little bit more.”
High School Basketball
Cougars; 67
Tigers; 28
Trinity Lutheran; 17; 18; 23; 9;-67
Crothersville; 7; 6; 12; 3; -28
Trinity Lutheran (1-1)- Jordan Brewer 2 2-2 7, Marley Warren 5 2-2 14, Laura Roeder 1 0-0 2, Madison Keith 7 3-6 17, Morgan Brewer 2 0-0 5, Bailey Bonde 3 2-4 8, Zoey Dulaney 3 3-4 9, Emerson Warren 1 2-2 5, Liza Froedge 0 0-0 0, Dianna Munoz 0 0-0 0. DeAnna Rothert 0 0-0 0, Maddie Adams 0 0-0 0, Zoe Croquart 0 0-0 0, Blayklee Hancock 0 0-0 0, 24 14-20 67
Crothersville (0-5) – Kendra Kelshaw 2 0-0 4, Isabella Riley 1 0-0 2, JoJo Clay 2 5-8 9, Hayden Pilgrim 0 1-2 1, Joshalyn Luenebrink 1 0-0 2, Laura Redifer 0 0-0 0, Hali Burton 0 0-0 0, Jazlin Gibson 2 0-0 5, Brooklyn Bottorff 0 0-0 0, Kelsie Walker 1 2-2 5, totals 9 8-12 28
3-point goals- Trinity (M. Warren 2, J. Brewer, M. Brewer, E. Warren (Crothersville (Gibson, Walker)
Rebounds- Trinity 25 (27 (Keith 6, J. Brewer 5), Crothersville 25 (Clay 7, Kelshaw 5)
Turnovers- Crothersville 21, Trinity 7
Fouls- Crothersville 16, Trinity 16