Crawfordsville Coach Joe Ferguson’s eyes panned from one end of the bench to the other during a recent game.
The depth of his team has certainly gained his confidence the last few games of the regular season. Heading into Wednesday’s Sectional 25 quarterfinal matchup against No. 8 Danville at Lebanon, his squad will have a different look from its 61-11 loss to the Warriors on Nov. 30.
“I think that we are a much better team,” Ferguson said. “Our offense has been more consistent recently. We are able to get good looks and knock down some of those shots. Defensively we have some girls who have really bought into the role of being great defenders for the team — Aubrey Lowe, Bea Swick, Olivia Jett.”
The winner moves to the Friday semifinals against the Lebanon/Brebeuf winner. Danville, who also won the Sagamore Conference, is the defending sectional and regional champion.
“Offensively we are going to try to have long possessions and shorten the game,” he said. “We know that we don’t match up well against Danville. So, if we can take the air out of the ball, that’s less time for us to have to guard their great players.”
Senior Molly Pierce comes into the contest the team’s leading scorer at 5.6 points per game. However, sophomore Olivia Jett and senior Celeste Moore have been the team leaders the last two games. Junior Olivia Hedrick is the Athenians’ top rebounder and shooter (6.9 boards, 41% from the field). Senior Addison Davis tops Danville in points, rebounds and shooting.
“Our main goal is to stay in the game for as long as we can and make them have to play harder and longer than they want to,” Ferguson said. “We want to play hard and hopefully put a little doubt in the heads of the Danville players. You never know. They could have an off shooting night, and we could be on fire.”