Tigers take early lead to run past Cougsrs

CROTHERSVILLE -  Coach Andrew Nehrt said he saw a lot of plusses out of his Crothersville girls basketball team Tuesday night during a 64-20 win over Trinity Lutheran in the opening round of the Henryville Class 1A Tip-Off Tournament.

"Obviously, I was pretty pleased with our play defensively," Nehrt said. "I thought we did about the best job we've ever done as far as just playing defense and going after the ball. We've worked on it solid, non-stop for the first two weeks of the season, and it's starting to pay off for us.

"Our ability to play defense is going to determine how good of a basketball team we end up being this year. We have got to sellout the defense, and tonight was the first step in that and I thought our girls did a good job."
The Tigers dominated from the start as they held a 13-0 lead following a 3-point basket by Courtney

Luedeman at the 2:04 mark of the opening period, and led 24-4 at the end of the first period and 38-11 at the half.

The Tigers made 11 of 22 shots from the floor in the opening quarter. Brooke Prather had four 2-point baskets, and Kylie Hensley had a total of seven points in the first period.

"I thought we did a decent job of moving the ball," Nehrt said. "We got shots, and we have a lot of different offensive weapons. We were always able to find an open person to shoot."

Trinity turned the ball over nine times in the first period, and managed to get only four shots in the period, to fall behind early.

"You could tell they had a lot of experience on the floor, and that is what we are working on,"  Cougars coach Renee Scoville said. "We've got no where to go but up.

"Our freshmen post players looking to go inside showed some ability . We need to keep improving on that. We've got some shooters, but we just need to keep working on taking care of the ball. It was a wake up call for us.

"Crothersville was tough defensively, and with that experience that helps, and they've got size with the big girl inside."

The Cougars had 26 turnovers to 14 for the Tigers.

Amber Lucas and Prather topped the Tigers with 14 points each. Luedeman and Hensley added 10 points each, and both of them made two 3-pointers.

Emilee  Newkirk was high scorer for Trinity with 8 points.

Crothersville held a 30-22 advantage in rebounds, and Nehrt said he thought his team should have had a wider margin considering the height advantage the Tigers had. "What I wasn't pleased about is after somebody shot, everybody stood around watching and not rebounding. That is something we've got to correct, but it's the first game of the season and there are things that we need to continue to stress and work on."

Trinity will be home to Medora at 7 p.m. Thursday, while Crothersville will travel to Medora at 6 p.m. Friday.
The tournament finals will be Saturday night at  Henryville.
Box Score

Crothersville 24 14 24 2-64
Trinity 4 7 6 3-20

CHS (1-0)- Schmelzle 2 0-0 4, Luedeman 4 0-0 10, Killey 4 0-0 8, Lucas 7 0-0 14, Prather 7 0-0 14,  Hensley 4 0-0 10, Barnett 0 2-2 2, Meadows 1 0-0 2,  Sawyer 0 0-0 0, Maxie 0 0-0 0, Schoenfelder 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 0-0 0, Hoskins 0 0-0 0, totals 29 2-2 64.

TL (0-1)- Franke 1 0-5 2, Newkirk 4 0-0 8, Garlock 1 0-0 2,  Chaisson 3 1-4 7, Gengelbach 0 1-2 1, Onken 0 0-2 0, Royalty 0 0-0 0, Shelton 0 0-0 0,  Molinari 0 -0- 0, totals 9 2-15 20.
3-point goals: C-Luedeman 2, Hensley 2.

Rebounds: C 30 (Lucas 8, Killey 8),  TL 22 (Onken 6); turnovers: C 14, TL 26; fouls: C 17, TL 5.