CROTHERSVILLE
The Crothersville girls basketball team found itself in a 15-2 hole with 2:40 left in the first quarter and needed to go on a run to stay in the game against Austin on Monday.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Eagles would lead the entire way as they came out with a 62-50 road victory.
In the first quarter, the Tigers failed to find their offense and struggled defensively. The Eagles played in a zone defense that took away the Tigers’ inside game early.
The Tigers were able to end the Eagles’ early run with a basket from Katrina Christian at the 1:30 mark. Lacey Hall added an and-one, and Alexis Adair drilled a 3-pointer to bring the score to 17-12 in favor of the Eagles after eight minutes of play.
“We hung in there, but we need to be more consistent on the offensive end,” Tigers coach Kevin Hensley said. “We need more than one or two girls to have more scoring. We will have other nights where we will be more consistent, but if we had more girls making shots it would open up the rest of the offensive game up.”
Another Eagles run started off the second quarter, as they built up 30-14 lead from behind the arc, at the free-throw line and on the drive.
Christian once again ended the run with a basket and finished through contact to finish an and-one opportunity with 2:41 left before the half.
At halftime, the Eagles led 34-19.
Since the inside offensive was limited, the Tigers decided to shoot more 3-pointers in the second half.
Adair drilled three 3-pointers for the Tigers in the third quarter, but the Tigers trailed 36-48 with one period remaining.
“Alexis (Adair) was getting hot and making some shots,” Hensley said. “They weren’t getting out of that zone, they knew if they did Katrina (Christian) was going to start getting more looks in the lane. I think we’re going to have to deal with that the rest of the season. Most teams don’t want to play man-to-man on us. They want to keep it packed in the zone.”
In the final eight minutes, Christian added nine of her game-high 22 points to the Tigers’ tally. Adair tallied 15 points on five 3-pointers on the night.
Christian also recorded a team-high eight rebounds of the 23 total Tigers boards.
The Tigers finished with 19 made field goals and went seven for 11 from the free-throw line.
“They need to get more movement on the ball and themselves. A lot of times we get caught standing,” Hensley said. “They need to move the ball quicker against any zone we play against.”