DOVER — Two teams in search of the elusive one extra good quarter. Two teams in search of an elusive win.
It was Western Boone, on the strength of their fourth quarter, who prevailed over Crawfordsville 44-38 in girls basketball Sagamore Conference action.
Leading 32-29 at the end of the third quarter, it looked like the Athenians might get a second win over the Stars, adding to a win in the Sugar Creek Classic.
The Stars, however, put together a 15-6 fourth quarter and avenged that loss, moving them to 2-15 on the season and 1-3 in the Sagamore.
The Athenians fall to 2-10 overall and 0-2 in the league.
“It was lots of little things,” Crawfordsville coach Tyler Smith said. “The effort was there, and after beating them the first time, I sure thought we were up to the challenge, but my count is now four games where we have had three good quarters during a game. We’ve got to find a way towards that fourth quarter. We have to understand that the difference between winning and losing sometimes is a very small margin.”
Through the first three quarters, the Athenians were driving into the lane and getting a couple buckets, and were adding a good night at the line on top of it.
It all changed in the last eight minutes, as the visitors connected on only two field goals and never got to the line.
That opened the door for the Stars, who forced and scored off of three quick turnovers, got to the line a few times themselves and continued to dominate on the boards. They also had a turnover-free fourth quarter.
“We put four quarters together,” WeBo coach Megan Alexander said. “We got good ball movement, we were helping each other and we had a lot of players step up in support roles.”
Leading the way for Crawfordsville was Shea Williamson, who turned in a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. The junior added three assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
The leading scorer was Olivia Reed with 14 points, 11 coming in the first three quarters as the two conference foes kept things nip and tuck.
“Shea and Olivia both battled,” Smith said, “but defensively we left their shooters open too many times. Our next step is to feed off them and get multiple players contributing at a higher level.”
The Stars also had a weapon that was not available for the first meeting.
Emmy Roys had a football uniform on and was playing in the semistate for the Stars as a defensive end when the two teams played in the basketball Classic.
The sophomore was a presence, grabbing 14 rebounds to go with six points, along with blocking or altering a couple shots and passes inside.
“Nobody works harder than Roys,” Alexander said. “She goes all-out, and when she gets going, it opens things up for our other inside girls. The minute she returned, our confidence went up. I also think Katheryn Rutherford did a great job defensively on Reed and we played some tenacious defense all around.”
The Stars were led by Emily Conyer with 23 points. The sophomore found several open looks around the perimeter.
Both teams have plenty of action coming up.
The Athenians are home to Riverton Parke Thursday and travel to Monrovia Saturday.
“We have a lot of games coming up with not much practice time between them,” Smith noted. “We just have to take one day and one game at a time.”
