For The Tribune
MEDORA
Crothersville controlled Tuesday’s game at Medora from the start by jumping in front 11-0 after four minutes and 27-4 after one quarter to roll to an 82-41 win against their Jackson County and sectional rival.
The Tigers controlled the opening tip, and Katrina Christian drove for a layup and the visitors were off and running. Alexis Adair followed with another layup and a 3-pointer, and Lacey Hall and Maddie Riley added layups, and it was 11-0 after four minutes.
Riley scored three baskets, and Kashmir Kelshaw hit a 3-pointer and all four of her free throws for seven points, to spark the Tigers to the 23-point lead after one.
Crothersville coach Kevin Hensley attributed the good start by his team to the transition game.
“I told the girls before we got out on the floor that our offense will be dictated by our defense,” he said. “If we play good defense we’re going to shoot layups.”
The Hornets cut their turnovers from nine in the first period to one in the second, and Jadelyn Dean became more aggressive in that period with three baskets and five free throws as the Hornets scored 13 but trailed 44-17 at the break.
Led by Carley McCammon and Kailen Flynn, the Hornets matched Crothersville’s 19 points in the third quarter.
McCammon scored nine and Flynn added seven points in that period.
“The third quarter is our highest output of the year,” Hornets coach Brad McCammon said. “We knew we had to get three kids involved. We’ve been trying to do that all year. We’ve just never had them on the same night.
“Tonight that occurred, and you’ve got to have some balanced scoring to be effective in a ballgame, and I thought we did a nice job of that.”
The Hornets (1-8) went on a 12-2 run midway through the third as McCammon converted two 3-point plays and Flynn had one 3-point play during that rally.
A total of 14 girls saw playing time for the Tigers (6-3) with 13 of them scoring, topped by Christian with 13, and Abby Jewell, Kelshaw and Adair with nine each.
Hensley said, “The thing my assistant coach Chris (Mains) and me were talking about is we need to get better on defense. We’ve got to be able to stop somebody. We can’t let foul trouble get us down. We committed silly fouls.
“Our offense is OK, but our defense has to step up even stronger by the end of the season.”
The 41 points is a season high for Medora, and this marks the first time the Hornets have had three players in double figures in one game as Dean scored 16, Flynn 11 and McCammon 10.
The Tigers shot 32 for 67 for the game, and the Hornets hit 14 of 40.
Crothersville had a 38-22 advantage in rebounds, with Jewell topping the Tigers with nine, while Dean had seven for Medora.
Coach McCammon said he knew his team was going to have its hands full.
“We played a good ball club. We knew we were coming into a tough ballgame. They play good defense, and we were just trying to execute some of our sets knowing that we’ve got some teams coming up that we’re going to have to be more aggressive with.
“We’ve got some games coming up that we need to understand that we’re going to be very competitive in, but we’ve got to learn to do things on the offensive end. I thought we showed some spark tonight so I’m pleased with that.”
Hunter had four rebounds.
The Hornets will be home to Rock Creek Academy on Thursday and to Lanesville on Saturday, while the Tigers will travel to Rock Creek on Saturday afternoon.