By Bubba Harnist
Staff Writer
LIZTON – Whatever Crawfordsville head coach Darren Haas did at practice between December 29 and January 2 is something he should continue doing for the foreseeable future.
Coming off a lackluster performance at the Benton Central Tournament on December 28 that saw the Athenians score 46 and 49 points respectively, Crawfordsville torched the nets at Tri-West High School on Jan. 3 en route to a 82-47 dismantling of the Bruins.
“It was good to get back at it again,” Haas said. “We didn’t play real well in the Benton Central tournament. It was good to bounce back and play well and shoot the ball well tonight.”
The Athenians torched the nets to the tune of shooting 29-55 from the floor (53%) as they placed five players in double figures and had one more miss the double-digit plateau by only one point. In three of the four quarters, Crawfordsville scored 20 or more points. The one quarter they didn’t was the fourth quarter when they scored 18 points.
Even better for Haas was he was able to stay undefeated against his former coach, Tri-West head coach Brad Acton. Oh yeah, Crawfordsville was also playing without the services of senior Paige Thompson.
This game was not close from the beginning when Crawfordsville opened the game on a 9-0 run. At the end of the first quarter, Crawfordsville had pushed their lead to 12 points, 20-8.
Crawfordsville started the second quarter on an 8-0 run that saw them push the lead 27-8 with 5:45 left in the half. Not matter what Tri-West tried, nothing seemed to work against a Crawfordsville that rarely missed. In fact, when they did miss, they sometimes got an offensive rebound and scored.
At the 2:16 mark, the Athenians got a layup from Holly Thompson that pushed the lead to 23 points, 39-16. At the intermission, Crawfordsville had a comfortable 19 point lead, 44-25. Leading the second quarter surge was Mandi Johnson and Alex Gasaway with six points each in the second quarter.
The start of the third quarter signified how the entire game was for the Bruins. Tri-West had three turnovers on their first three possessions. On the other hand, Crawfordsville scored the first six points of the quarter to push their lead to 25 points, 50-25.
After two straight buckets by Tri-West, the Athenians went on an 8-0 run to cap a 14-4 run, pushing the lead to 58-29. Crawfordsville put the finishing touches on the quarter by getting a layup at the buzzer by Lexi Stevens on a three-quarter court pass from Mandi Johnson. After three quarters, the Athenians led 64-35.
The fourth quarter came and went with Crawfordsville unloading the bench to get others playing time. In the end, Crawfordsville walked away with the 82-47 win.
“The key is our inside-outside game,” Haas said. “If our outside shots are going down, then our team is going to be clicking because our inside game is going to work.”
“If they pack it win we have to hit the outside shot and we did that tonight.”
The loss drops Tri-West to 4-7 on the season and 1-4 in Sagamore Conference play. Next up for the Bruins is a trip to Sheridan on Jan. 5 to take on the Blackhawks.
With the win, Crawfordsville has now won 11 games in a row and improves to 14-1 on the season and 3-0 in Sagamore Conference play. Leading the way was Gasaway with 17 points. Also in double figures was Johnson with 14 points, Hannah Fink with 13 points, Cara Clarke with 12 points, and Lexi Stephens with 11 points.
Next up for the Athenians is a conference home game on Jan. 8 against Danville, a team they beat 46-36 at the Benton Central Tournament on Dec. 27.
“We’re 14-1, kind of on a roll here,” Haas said. “We are starting to see some things and we are trying to prepare the best we can and I feel like we are really starting to hit on all strides.”
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