Johnson drops career high, Crusaders roll North County

Saxony Lutheran’s Rebecca Johnson scored a career-high 34 points in the Crusaders 74-45 victory over the North County Raiders on Thursday at Saxony Lutheran High School. The senior sank six three-pointers and was perfect from the free-throw line, Johnson said breaking 30 was cool but more importantly she and her teammates got the win.

“I’ve hit 26, 28 and 29, so finally breaking the 30-point mark was nice, but I couldn't have done it without the help of my team,” Johnson said. “They got me the ball really well, we shared the ball really well and it was a good team game.”

Saxony began the game on a 10-1 run and forced the Raiders to use a timeout. North County managed to get some offense going but could not slow down the Crusaders on offense as Saxony led 27-11 after the first.

The 16-point Saxony Lutheran lead shrunk to 10 multiple times throughout the second quarter but a layup at the buzzer gave the Crusaders a 38-26 halftime lead. Johnson lost some of her offensive momentum but still gathered many assists and played solid defense.

“I love passing, honestly more than shooting, so making good passes just makes you feel good about yourself,” Johnson said. “It makes your teammates feel good that they made the shot and that they're getting shots it's just nice to get everyone involved.”

Saxony went on another 6-0 run to begin the third and extended the lead out to 53-28 entering the fourth. The Crusaders cruised to victory in their final regular season game of the year. Saxony Lutheran head coach Chris Crawford said it was nice to get a win to close out but remains focused on fixing what needs to be fixed before districts.

“I really thought we moved the ball well tonight, I thought our defense in spurts was really good,” Crawford said. “Then I thought we didn't rotate very well on some things. A lot of positives and a couple of things we need to work on but that's good going to districts we have to work on.”

Johnson and the rest of the Crusaders will begin the Class 3 District 2 tournament next week and will await the winner of Woodland and Bloomfield with Richland(Essex). The game will be Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Bloomfield High School.