Crawfordsville girls’ basketball overcame a slow start to down Frankfort 49-22 on Friday night.
Trailing 8-4, the Athenians (6-16, 1-6) held the Hot Dogs (2-20, 0-7) the next 10 minutes without scoring, and built a 29-8 lead.
“I feel like maybe nerves got to us a little bit at the beginning,” Crawfordsville coach Tyler Smith said. “Really the last couple of games once we saw our first bucket go in that’s when we started to settle down.”
Lauren Kellerman scored seven of Crawfordsville’s first eight points of the second quarter as they outscored Frankfort 16-5 to take a 31-13 lead into the half.
Kellerman led the Athenians with 20 points, while Shea Williamson added 11.
Smith felt like it was once again defense leading to offense for the Athenians, who won four of their last eight games to close the regular season.
“We’ve been working on our defensive strategy for a while and it’s really coming along in January,” he said. “You could argue that at pretty much any level that playing intense on defense, you play more free and play more confident.”
Crawfordsville held Frankfort to just 8-of-39 (21%) from the field. The Athenians also got the free throw line 24 times and cashed in on 15 of them, while Frankfort was just 4-of-9 from the charity stripe.
The Athenians had a 41-33 advantage on the boards.
Crawfordsville celebrated a trio of seniors in Kellerman, Megan Simmons, and Peyton Sinnet, who have helped the Athenians to their most wins since 2015.
“It can’t be easy to have all new coaches in your final season,” Smith, a first-year coach said. “But the way they’ve handled it, their leadership has been amazing, and they’ve all at different times carried us. It’s a blessing as a coach to have that stability at the top of the program.”
The Athenians open sectional tournament play against Danville at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Danville.
Crawfordsville 49, Frankfort 22
FF 8 5 5 4 — 22
CHS 15 16 13 5 — 49
FF (2-20, 0-7): Jordan Frazier 1 1-2 4, Liz Cruz Sandoval 3 1-1 8, Paytin Dubree 1 0-0 2, Carina Alanis 0 0-0 0, Sydni Whitaker 0 0-0 0, Ingrid Guijosa Valdes 0 0-2 0, Jessie Ramos 1 0-2 2, Tarah Martinez 1 0-0 2, Sydney Cesare 1 2-2 4, Heather Massengill 0 0-0 0; Totals 8-39 4-9 22.
CHS (6-16, 1-6 SAC): Olivia Reed 1 2-2 5, Megan Simmons 2 0-0 4, Kearston Hutchens 1 0-0 2, Lauren Kellerman 6 8-12 20, Shea Williamson 3 3-6 11, Emma Balaz 0 0-1 1, Peyton Sinnet 1 0-0 3, Maycee York 1 0-0 3; Totals 15-52 15-24.
3-Point Shooting: FF 2-11 (Frazier, Sandoval), CHS 4-15 (Williamson 2, Reed, York).
Rebounds: FF 33, CHS 41
Turnovers: FF 25, CHS 15
