For The Tribune
CROTHERSVILLE
The Crothersville girls’ basketball team jumped on top of Irvington Park Academy 18-0 midway through the opening quarter and coasted to a 79-22 win in pool play in the Henryville Tipoff Tournament on Thursday night.
Lacey Hall’s fourth basket of the night, a jump shot from along the baseline, put the Tigers on top 18-0 at the 4:05-mark in the first quarter.
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The Ravens missed their first seven shots from the floor and committed four turnovers before Miriam Glaser hit a 3-pointer with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter.
“We wanted to get them down early so we could run through a lot of our offenses in an atmosphere that is not so pressurized, because (Monday) night when we played Orleans it was a pressure-packed game,” Tigers coach Kevin Hensley said.
“Neither team could really get set up in their offense the way they wanted to because there was so much pressure on the defensive end.”
Alexis Adair and Katrina Christian added two baskets apiece in the first quarter as the Tigers increased their lead to 20-6.
Christian scored five field goals in the second quarter, and Piper Hensley hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Tigers increased their lead to 49-10 at the half.
Cassidy Mantz and Nikki Hickman scored two baskets each in the third quarter when the Tigers increased their lead against the Indianapolis-based team to 68-15 entering the final quarter.
“The one thing Chris (Mains, assistant coach) and I were telling the girls on the bench was we’ve got to get better at boxing out. We weren’t boxing out at all,” coach Hensley said.
“We were just kind of standing there trying to out-jump them. They had two big girls, and you’ve got to box girls out like that.”
The Crothersville coaches begin substituting freely late in the first quarter, and all 12 players that suited up scored at least two points.
“What we were looking for in the second half is getting a lot of girls playing time so they can get their game level up a little higher,” Hensley said.
Christian was the high scorer for Crothersville with 14 points, Mantz added 12, Hensley had 11 and Hall finished with 10.
Hall was the high-rebounder with seven, and Maddie Riley pulled down 5.
Miriam Glaser was high scorer for Irvington (0-2) with 9 points, and Adiah Mickens topped the Ravens in redounds with 5.
The Tigers are 1-1 in the tournament and will play host to Shawe Memorial at 6 p.m. tonight.
Shawe defeated Orleans 54-49 Thursday night.
The Crothersville coaches had their team go through a walkthrough after the game.
“Shawe plays a different kind of zone, a 1-1-3, and we’re trying to get ready for that,” Hensley explained.