It’s been a rough season for Crawfordsville girls basketball. The 0-22 Athenians have been dealt with a pair of season ending ACL injuries to both senior Taylor Abston and junior Celeste Moore but despite it all the Athenians have kept their heads held high. All season long Crawfordsville has played hard on the defensive side of the ball while figuring out things offensively. Now CHS will look to put it all together when they open up sectional play on Wednesday when they take on the Tri-West Bruins in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 25 which is hosted by Cascade.
It was back on just the third game of the season when the Bruins defeated CHS 52-10. First-year coach Joe Ferguson is using the re-match against the Bruins to see how far his team has come since that matchup early in the season.
“I’m excited to see how this game goes,” he said. “That first time we were still figuring ourselves out as a team. We did some good things and a lot of bad things which we’re looking to correct. The girls know that we’re not predicted to win so I’m hoping we go out there and play loose and try to have a better showing. That’s all I’m asking of them. Whether we win or lose as long as we show improvement from the last time we played them.”
The Bruins enter the post-season with a 12-10 record and 6-1 mark in the Sagamore Conference with their only loss coming to SAC champion and Hendricks County rival Danville. They average 48.4 points per game while giving up 42.8 on defense. Junior Lauren Bear is the Bruins leading scorer with 15.9 points per game. Sophomore Aniyah Anthony scores 9.3 with senior Atta Garnett chipping in 7.9.
CHS only scores 22 points per game and is led by Litzy Huesca’s 3.9 a game. Madi Hedrick (3.8) and Molly Pierce (3.5 ) are the other two offensive weapons for the Athenians. Despite the struggles on the offensive side, the Athenians have made strides on that side of the ball. Cville scored 38 points earlier this month against SAC foe WeBo and trailed Covington 35-32 in the final minute back on Jan. 16.
“The stuff we run has worked, it comes down to us making those shots when we get open looks,” Ferguson said. “I’ve been trying to instill that confidence in the girls that they need to continue to keep shooting. Some of had said how they’re going to stop because they’re not making them, and no matter what they have to have that confidence in themselves that it’s going to fall.”
While CHS does have a handful of girls who have post-season experience like Addie Hodges, Molly Pierce and Hedrick, a majority of the team is coming up from the junior varsity a season ago and will be getting their first taste of what the post-season is like and how to play in it. Players like Huesca, Yuli Torres, Olivia Hedrick and others will make their post-season debuts for the Athenians on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be great for those girls to get that experience because I love when our girls can be exposed to as many different situations as possible, and the post-season is another environment that some of these girls will get to experience for the first time.” Ferguson added. “That way when these girls get older here next year and the following years, the lights don’t seem that bright because they’re used to it. It’ll be a great learning experience for us because there’s also no pressure on us to win. If we’re able to do some good things it’s something we can build on for next year.”
The CHS/Tri-West winner will take on the winner of Western Boone and Lebanon in Friday’s semi-final. The game will begin roughly 20 minutes after the conclusion of the Stars and Tigers game which gets underway from Cascade at 6 p.m.
