Frankfort’s girls and boys basketball teams had their way with Crawfordsville Friday night, securing 43-31 and 61-49 Sagamore Conference road wins over the Athenians.
GIRLS GAME
Frankfort’s strong defense and flurry of first half points led the Hot Dogs past the Athenians on Friday night.
Crawfordsville connected on just 8-of-41 shots for the game, as Frankfort led 13-7 after a quarter and took a 20-15 advantage into the half.
“When you can’t make shots,” first-year Crawfordsville coach Joe Ferguson said. “We had looks, but for some reason we couldn’t hit an outside shot. And even when we got the ball inside, we had some wide open looks that just didn’t fall.”
Frankfort used a 4-0 run midway through the third quarter to build a 26-16 lead, but the Athenians had fight left in them. Fueled by a Molly Pierce 3-pointer, Crawfordsville used a 7-0 spurt to make it 26-23 with 2:20 left in the third.
The Hot Dogs’ answered though, with a 13-0 run stretching into the fourth quarter, while holding Crawfordsville scoreless from the 2:20 mark in the third, until Olivia Hedrick made a pair of free throws with 3:07 to play in the game.
Securing just its second win of the season, Frankfort’s win over Crawfordsville sends the Athenians into the postseason with a winless record of 0-22. The effort, fight, and determination though has never been in question by Ferguson.
“I’m never mad at them at the end of a game,” he said. “I’m upset that we can’t score, I’m upset that we turn the ball over, but I’m never mad at their effort. They play hard from start to finish. I’m proud of that, because that’s hard to do when you’re ‘oh’ and whatever.”
Crawfordsville honored its three seniors on Friday, which included Taylor Abston, who was the leading scorer and rebounder last season for the Athenians, but tore her ACL early in the 2023-24 campaign.
“That’s tough with her missing, because she knew she was going to be a big focal point, everyone in the area knew it was going to be a big year for her, and to not have her for most of the year hurts, especially from what I was looking to do and how I was going to use her,” Ferguson said.
Despite recently having surgery to repair her torn ACL, Abston got a special moment to begin the game as the senior started and scored the first points of the contest.
They also recognized Madison Hedrick and Addison Hodges.
“Those other two (Madison Hedrick and Addison Hodges) stepped up,” Ferguson added. “They were leaders on and off the court. Making sure they kept the team together. It might not have shown in the win column, but they did a lot of stuff behind the scenes to bring everyone else along and keep everybody together, and that’s hard to do when you don’t win.”
Olivia Hedrick led Crawfordsville in scoring Friday with eight points, while Litzy Huesca added seven. Ella McAtee paced Frankfort with 17.
CHS enters post-season play beginning on Wednesday at Cascase where they’ll take on the Tri-West Bruins.
Frankfort 43, Crawfordsville 31
FF 13 7 8 15 — 43
CHS 7 8 8 8 — 31
FRANKFORT (2-21): Ashley Vasquez-Rivera 1-1 0-0 2, Daizy Santos Valdez 1-5 2-4 5, Ella McAtee 7-14 3-3 17, Saira Flores 5-12 0-0 10, Vanessa Guardado 2-6 5-8 9; Totals 16-38 10-15 43.
CRAWFORDSVILLE (0-22): Olivia Hedrick 1-7 6-7 8, Addison Hodges 0-6 0-0 0, Litzy Huesca 3-6 1-2 7, Madison Hedrick 0-8 2-6 2, Taylor Abston 1-1 0-0 2, Molly Pierce 2-5 0-0 6, Caroline Melevage 1-8 4-4 6, Reagan Cox 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 8-41 13-19 31.
3-Point Shooting: FF 1-8 (Valdez), CHS 2-14 (Pierce 2).
Rebounds: FF 34, CHS 34.
Turnovers: FF 27, CHS 31
BOYS GAME
Frankfort used a hot shooting night to dominate Crawfordsville on Friday night.
Leading 32-17 at the half, the Hot Dogs kept their foot down to cruise to the Sagamore Conference victory behind a 22-of-39 shooting night, including 7-of-14 from behind the arc.
Junior Alex Farley knocked down five outside shots for 15 of his 21 points, while senior guard Kye Kirby led all scorers with 22 as Frankfort won its eighth game in nine outings, after starting the season by dropping six-straight.
“He (Farley) nailed two threes in a row right in front of us, and we tried to adjust defensively what we wanted to do and also put pressure on him,” Crawfordsville assistant coach Danny Pierce said.
At one point the Athenians dropped into a zone to keep the Hot Dogs out of the paint, and Farley made them pay with a long three — as he scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half.
It wasn’t just the poor defense that cost Crawfordsville though. The Athenians turned it over 16 times and were out-rebounded 28-20.
“We’ve got to do things right defensively, and we can’t lose the ball and turn it over and give them opportunities, especially early,” Pierce said. “When we start the game off with three turnovers and then how many bunnies did we miss in that first quarter? We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, and they got off to a good start.”
Crawfordsville outscored Frankfort 14-11 in the third quarter, but was never able to get within striking distance. Drake Burris was a lone bright spot offensively, scoring 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half.
“If we would have had a couple more stops in that second half when we came out, we could have gotten it down below double-digits,” Pierce added. “I thought Burris stepped his game up in the second half to try and get us back into it a little bit.”
Ethan McLemore added 12 for the Athenians.
Crawfordsville host Northview tonight. Frankfort is at West Lafayette.
Frankfort 61, Crawfordsville 49
FF 17 15 11 18 — 61
CHS 10 7 14 18 — 49
FRANKFORT (8-7): Edwin Wainscott 2-4 1-2 5, Doug Wood 3-5 0-0 6, Kye Kirbt 9-12 3-4 22, Carson Hale 0-2 4-6 4, Alex Farley 7-14 2-4 21, Lucas Waggoner 1-2 0-0 3; Totals 22-39 10-16 61.
CRAWFORDSVILLE (6-6, ): Drake Burris 8-11 0-0 19, Kaden Patton 0-3 0-0 2, Ethan McLemore 3-8 5-6 12, Tyson Fuller 3-7 1-2 9, Alec Saidian 2-5 0-0 4, Mason McCarty 0-4 1-2 1, Jordan Shrout 1-1 0-0 2, Jacob Russell 1-1 0-0 2; Totals 18-40 7-10 49.
3-Point Shooting: FF 7-14 (Farley 5, Kirby, Waggoner), CHS 6-18 (Burris 3, Fuller 2, McLemore).
Rebounds: FF 28, CHS 20
Turnovers: FF 13, CHS 16
