MEDORA
Despite not having a win, coach Brad McCammon said his Medora girls’ basketball team is definitely headed in the right direction.
This past Saturday the Hornets cut their turnovers to 26 and forced the Crusaders into 19 turnovers in a 30-25 loss in the Hornets’ Nest in the Southern Roads Conference opener for both teams.
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“We played this team the second game (Nov. 1) and got beat 32 points (64-32) and had 43 turnovers,” McCammon said. “We worked all week trying to do a better job against a press, which we actually did a better job against that. We still had some half-court errors.
“We’ve just got to be stronger with the basketball. We’re just too nice on the court. You’ve got to be physical. Columbus Christian does a good job with pressure defense. I thought we did a little better with it later on. We’re getting our shots, we’ve just got to hit them.”
Both teams had trouble finding the basket in the opening period with two field goals apiece and a 5-4 lead for the Crusaders.
The Hornets went ice cold for the first 5:50 of the second period, as the Crusaders went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-4 lead.
Kailen Flynn finally scored for the Hornets at the 2:10-mark and Gwyneth Morris followed with a layup for a 12-8 score, before the Crusaders led 13-10 at the half. Kelsey Turner scored off an offensive rebound for the Hornets in the closing seconds of the second period.
Medora shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the first half and was 9-for-42 for the game. The Crusaders made 5 of 26 shots in the first half and 12 of 56 for the game. Both teams struggled at the free-throw line with the Hornets shooting 6-for-11 and the Crusaders 5-for-18.
The Hornets made only one field goal in the third period, a layup by Kelsey Turner at the 7-minute mark, and scored only 3 points to trail 23-13 heading into the fourth.
The Crusaders held a 30-21 lead following a basket by Madison Henderson with 1:20 remaining.
Kenley King made two free throws for the Hornets with 1:13 remaining, and Flynn scored on a move to the basket with 50 seconds remaining, but neither team could score after that.
Grace Cobb was high scorer for the Hornets with eight points and Turner led all players with 11 rebounds.
Henderson was high scorer for the Crusaders (3-0), with 12 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
“We do have some (four) seniors on the team, and we’ve also got a mixture of younger kids,” McCammon said. “We’ve just got to have a basketball mind. Sometimes we just get in too big a hurry and try to make the impossible pass when we just need to make the simple pass.
“That’s part of getting there and I’ve noticed a vast improvement from last weekend to this. All you can do is improve and get better each week.”
The Hornets (0-3) will try to pick up their first win Thursday at Lighthouse Christian Academy (Bloomington).