LIZTON – The learning curve for Crawfordsville’s girls basketball team continues to extend, as the Athenians dropped a 67-23 game to Tri-West .
Turnovers continue to be the nemesis for Crawfordsville, now 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the league, while the W moves the Bruins to 2-1 and 2-0 in the conference.
A total of 41 Athenians miscues led to 39 points for the home squad.
When they could get into their offense, Crawfordsville held their own, but there were too many empty possessions.
“We’ve been working all week on (facing) pressure defense,” Athenians coach Tyler Smith said. “We have goals for each quarter, for halves, but we are nowhere near those goals in taking care of the ball. We know, we are confident, we will get this figured out, but it is frustrating these early games.”
The turnovers came under some Bruins pressure, but at other times, it was simply not getting a pass through a trap or into the first leg of the offense.
The multiple turnovers gave the Bruins ample opportunity to run, and they took the ball inside for basket after basket.
“It’s a mix of things,” Smith noted. “We took the ball to the wrong spot, we got trapped, some were unforced. We know, we practice that we have to take a pass to make a pass, and we have spent some entire practices on handling the pressure. We just have to get past these early games and keep on grinding.”
Crawfordsville was led in scoring by Kearston Hutchens, as the senior dropped three triples for nine points. Taylor Abston finished with six.
The Athenians were 9-of-34 from the field, and 3-of-14 from long range. They finished 2-of-4 from the line.
The Bruins put three in double figures, all seniors
Kenna Kirby, coming off major knee surgery just last spring, was the scoring leader with 17. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Isabelle Saylor had 13 points, and Adrie Thompson added a dozen.
Tri-West was 31-of-68 from the field, 2-of-13 from long range and 3-of-5 from the line.
They also held the rebound edge, but only 35-31, as the Athenians took good care of the glass.
Abston was game-best with 12 boards, and the sophomore added four steals and an assist. Shea Williamson pulled down nine boards.
Crawfordsville will take their lumps from this first tough week of the season and look forward to the next, which includes the Sugar Creek Classic next Friday and Saturday.
“Now is the time for us to respond,” Smith said. “We have the leaders to do this, and we feel confident in our abilities. These first three games have been tough, but we just need to put it past us. We hope facing the pressure of these three will toughen us up for our next games. It’s up to us to focus.”
The Athenians will take on Fountain Central next Tuesday before heading to Western Boone and the annual Sugar Creek Classic next Friday vs county rival Southmont.
Tri-West 67, Crawfordsville 23
Score by Quarters
CHS 4 8 7 4 - 23
TW 21 16 18 12 - 67
Crawfordsville (0-3, 0-1)
FG-FGA FT-FTA PTS: Olivia Reed 1-5 0-0 2, Kearston Hutchens 3-11 0-0 9, Liddy McCarty 1-5 1-1 3, Shea Williamson 1-4 0-1 2, Taylor Abston 2-5 1-2 5, Elyse Widmer 1-3 0-0 2, Addie Hodges 0-0 0-0 0, Laine Schicher 0-1 0-0 0. Abby Cox 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-34 2-4 23.
Tri-West (2-1, 1-0)
Isabelle Saylor 6-14 1-1 13, Adrie Thompson 6-8 0-0 12, Izzy Cotteleer 3-7 0-0 6, Becca Van Slyke 3-7 1-2 7, Kenna Kirby 8-20 0-0 17, Ava Sullivan 1-5 0-0 2, Regan Shaw 1-3 0-0 2, Alix Jeter 0-0 0-0 0, McKenzie Walters 1-1 0-0 2, Regan Canada 2-3 1-2 6. Totals 31-68 3-5 67.
3-Pt Shooting
CHS: 3-14 (Hutchens 3-9, Williamson 0-2, Abston 0-1, Reed 0-2).
TW: 2-13 (Saylor 0-4, Thompson 0-1, Canada 1-2, Kirby 1-5, Shaw 0-1).
Rebounding
CHS: 31 (Abston 12, Williamson 9).
TW: 35 (Sullivan 7, Kirby 7, Van Slyke 6).
Turnovers
CHS: 41
TW: 13
Points off Tos
CHS: 2
TW: 39