As the ball flashed through the zone defense it touched all five pairs of hands.
When that happened it usually triggered offensive success for the Crawfordsville girls basketball team Saturday afternoon.
The final news was not good for the Athenians (4-11). Visiting Speedway raced to a 13-0 lead in the first 6:24 of the game and won the war 52-34.
However, coach Tyler Smith’s team won quite a few battles after digging the early hole. The deficit the rest of the way was only two possessions, 39-34 and the Athenians “won” two of the final three quarters.
“I think we settled down and started to execute the game plan better. Sometimes it’s as simple as that,” Smith said. “We told them in the locker room when we’re successful it’s when we are implementing what we practiced.”
Crawfordsville turned around early issues with Speedway’s half-court trap and slowed down the visitors’ break.
“Some of it is jump stop, pass fake. We still got to work on our pass fakes into a bounce pass. We try to throw it over the top way too much.”
The ball movement and touches drew the Athenians to 24-12 at the half. Even after a good initial possession of the third quarter, Crawfordsville could not convert into points. Two minutes later Speedway star Alex Delisle hit consecutive threes to up the lead to 34-14. It was 40-19 after three quarters. The home team forced nine turnovers and relied on ball movement, Molly Pierce’s free throw shooting (5-of-6) and Abston’s seven final quarter points to draw to the final score.
“We want to spread it out because that’s going to help our best players get better looks. That first (third quarter) possession we executed and got a good look. Hopefully, that’s something to build on.”
Abston led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Pierce added her five points and Celeste Moore four. The one-two punch of juniors Daniella Galvez (23 points, 10 rebounds) and Delisle (14 points) topped the Sparkplugs
Galvez’s size posed a matchup matter.
“We’ve got some tough-minded girls. We don’t have the physicality to face someone that hardnosed. She’s relentless on every possession. We targeted that as a tough matchup and adjustments were a little better.”
Abston’s play opens things up for the rest of her team.
“She’s got a good knack for the ball. Any set we have all five are involved, but we want to ‘Taylor it’ – see what I did there,” Smith said and laughed. “Even, if they overload or try to double her, it’s probably not going to work because her actions will nullify it. I think she’s a scorer at heart and wants the ball.”
Crawfordsville (4-11) plays Tuesday in a Sagamore Conference contest at Western Boone using this game as a benchmark.
“This is a game we felt we could’ve been right there. We knock some more shots down and beat girls to their spots when we’re defending it might be a different outcome.”
SPEEDWAY 52, CRAWFORDSVILLE 34
Score by Quarter
SPW 17 7 16 12 - 52
CVL 3 9 7 15 - 34
Speedway (7-7): FG-FGA FT-FTA PTS: Audrey Burrell 5-8 0-0 10 Chloe Ellett 1-4 0-0 2 Daniella Galvez 8-16 7-10 23 Kalissa Jackson-Dietzer 1-5 1-2 3 Genesis Austin 0-2 0-0 0 Destiny Thompson 0-1 0-0 0 Macy Delisle 0-3 0-0 0 Hayli Clampitt 0-1 0-0 0 Kyla Booker 0-2 0-0 0 Mylie Walton 0-0 0-0 0 Alex Delisle 6-18 0-0 14; Totals 21-56 8-12 52
Crawfordsville (4-11): Molly Pierce 0-3 5-6 5 Elyse Widmer 1-6 1-2 3 Riley Gardner 0-2 0-0 0 Abby Cox 0-0 0-0 0 Addie Hodges 1-3 0-0 2 Celeste Moore 1-7 2-2 4 Madi Hedrick 1-7 1-4 3 Taylor Abston 7-17 0-0 17; Totals 11-45 9-14 34
3-Point Shooting: Speedway 2-9 (A. Delisle 2-4), Crawfordsville 3-21 (Abston 3-6)
Rebounding: Speedway 45 (Galvez 10, Clampitt 8), Crawfordsville 34 (Abston 11, Moore 5, Widmer 4)
Turnovers: Speedway 21, Crawfordsville 26
