Playing a small, weaker opponent, the Crothersville girls basketball team made sure it was all about its business from the start Monday.
The Tigers pounced on Cannelton early and left with a 59-22 win on their home court.
In the first quarter, the Tigers opened up a 20-6 lead.
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“It was similar to the Medora game; we just tried to use our defense to take them early,” Tigers coach Kevin Hensley said. “We tried to keep that pressure on them the rest of the game and not let up. Our defense will be out mainstay all year.”
Neither team could get much offense in the second quarter, as the Tigers scored seven to the Bulldogs’ four points.
After leading at intermission 27-10, the Tigers buckled down on both sides of the ball to outscore the Bulldogs 18-2.
The Tigers cruised to a second straight win in the final eight minutes of play.
In the last quarter, the Tigers emptied their bench and mostly played JV girls.
Nikki Hickman, a freshman, put up seven points and five rebounds off the bench.
“It’s really good for our future,” Hensley said. “I was calling out plays and seeing if the (JV players) would run them, and run them right. And they did. It’s starting to sink in for the younger ones, and its great for the future.”
Tigers junior guard Alexis Adair led the team with 13 points, and sophomore Katrina Christian led the battle of the boards with eight rebounds.
The Bulldogs, who come from one of the smallest schools in Indiana, had six players on their roster. Sophomore Nicole Harris led the Bulldogs’ charge with 12 points.
On Thursday, the Tigers will face sectional opponent West Washington.
“I know we have a couple of tougher games coming up, so we need to prepare for that,” Hensley said. “A game like tonight, we were trying to run a couple of new wrinkles in our offense against someone besides ourselves.”
With the Senators coming to town Thursday and an away game at Shawe Memorial on Monday, the Tigers hope to apply pressure early on and come away with two key victories.
“I want to see more intensity,” Hensley said. “We weren’t real intense tonight. I thought we had a couple of lackadaisical looks. Our coaches were getting on them pretty hard making sure they didn’t let up. They were getting lazy on defense a little but, but we got on them because you can never get that way on defense.”