Crothersville girls win Henryville tournament

HENRYVILLE - The Crothersville girls built up an early lead and held off a late charge by Madison Shawe for a 78-66 win Saturday night in the championship of the Henryville Tip-off girls basketball tournament.

Shawe had won the tournament the past four years. Henryville topped Trinity Lutheran 60-24 in the battle for third, while Christian Academy topped Medora 53-15 in the fifth-place game.

Crothersville led 61-56 after three periods and had its lead reduced to 61-58 early in the fourth quarter but that was as close as the Hilltoppers could get as the Tigers went on a 9-5 scoring run to lead 70-61 with 2:55 remaining, and increased its lead to 12 in the final minute.

"You've got to give Shawe credit, they just keep coming at you," Tigers coach Andrew Nehrt said. "It seemed like everything they shot in the second half went in.

"You've got to give our girls credit, too. We were able to withstand several runs that Shawe made at us. We're starting to show our age. We're older players now and we don't panic.

"It's a credit to the girls and their hustle and their not giving up. We got in foul trouble early and we really had to back off in our defensive pressure. We've got to learn to play great defense without fouling and we're just not there yet."

Amber Lucas had a huge game for the Tigers with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and she was named the most outstanding player in the tournament.

"I've just worked on repetition over and over," she said. "Now we've got a coach who is 6-5  (Ashley Spicer) and she's helped me out a lot."

Lucas was named to the all-tournament team as a junior, and said she wanted to earn the outstanding player title this year while helping the team win the title. "I don't know if I deserve it, but I'm happy I got it. That's what I wanted.
"We just need to pick up on our defense, but offensively we're doing fine."

Lucas had a height advantage over the Shawe players and when the Tigers could get the ball into her it seemed like Lucas either scored or was fouled. She made 9 baskets and 8 of 9 free throws.

"They couldn't stop her, and we had to make some adjustments at half-time. We just weren't looking for her," Nehrt said. "We talked about it at half-time, and got it corrected and started reversing the ball to get it into her on the inside. She's a dominant player in the inside and we need to make sure we're always looking for her."
Lucas scored 22 points and had 7 baskets in the second half.

The Tigers opened up an 11-2 lead after four minute of play and led 20-11 at the end of the first quarter and 42-33 at the half.

Brooke Prather added 16 points for the Tigers and was named to the all-tournament team, and Courtney Luedeman scored 13 points.

Ebony Inskeep was high scorer for Shawe with 28 points.

Crothersville will travel to Borden Tuesday night for a Southern Athletic Conference game.

Crothersville won its own holiday tournament two years ago, This is the second year it has played in the Henryville tournament and lost to Shawe in the finals last year.

Third place
Henryville forced Trinity into several turnovers early to take a 15-5 lead after one period, and increased its lead to 32-11 at the half.

"We made passes we shouldn't be making," coach Renee Scoville said. "We didn't face as intense pressure as we did against Crothersville, but we just didn't take care of the ball. That's what happened.

"We could have played a lot better tonight, but it's hard when you get down like that playing catch-up. We've got to keep working on the fundamentals."

Jenna Chaisson was high scorer for Trinity with 9 points, Sarah Onken had 8 points and 6 rebounds, and Emilee Newkirk had 6 rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team.
Trinity, 1-2, will travel to Clarksville Tuesday.

Fifth place
Christian Academy jumped ahead of Medora early and rolled to its easy win.
Medora, 0-3, will be home to Christian Academy at 6 p.m. today.

Box Score

Championship
Crothersville 20 22 19 17-78
Shawe 11 22 23 10-66

CHS (3-0)- Luedeman 5 0-0 13, Killey 2 4-8 9, Hensley 2 3-4 9, Lucas 9 8-9 26, Prather 5 5-6 16, Schmelzle 1 3-5 5, Barnett 0 0-0 0, totals 24-61 23-32 78; 3-point goals: Luedeman 3, Hensley 2, Prather 1, Killey 1.
MS (2-1): Inskeep 9 9-13 28, Muessel 5 4-4 17, Roberts 2 0-1 4, Bear 2 1-2 5, Ward 5 2-2 12, 24-67 16-22 66; 3-point goals: Inskeep, Muessel.
Rebounds: CHS 33 (Lucas `4, Killey 11), MS 22 (Roberts 8), turnovers: CHS 12, MS 16; fouls: CHS 20, MS 21.

Third  place
Trinity 5 6 3 10-24
Henryville 15 17 14 14-60

TL (1-2)- Franke 0 1-2 1, Garlick 2 0-0 4, Onken 3 2-2 8, Newkirk 1 0-0 2, Chaisson 2 5-8 9, Shelton 0 0-0 0, Royalty 0 0-0 0, Gengelbach 0 0-0 0, Molinari 0 0-0 0, totals 8 8-12 24
HHS (3-1): Spellman 6 1-2 14, Taylor 4 0-0 8, Maudlin 3 0-0 8, Embry 6 0-0 12, Knox 7 2-2 16, Harbold 1 0-0 2,  totals 27 3-4 60; 3-point goals: Maudlin 2, Spellman 1.
Fouls TL 6, HHS 13; TL rebound leaders: Newkirk 6, Onken 6.

Fifth place
Christian Academy 53, Medora 154
All-tournament
(Jackson County)
Crothersville: Lucas (outstanding player), Prather
Trinity: Newkirk
Medora; Fisher