Saxony claws, fights, outlasts Jackson in FSCB semifinal thriller

Matched up with the second-seeded Jackson Indians, Saxony Lutheran battled out of a big deficit late with a frantic rally to grab a 41-37 victory and set up a date in the championship game with Delta.

After trading some early leads, the hole for Saxony grew and grew as the second half progressed. Down eight inside the final few minutes, however, the teams sang a different tune.

With a furious rally, Saxony flew back to take the lead late and snatch the championship bid away from Jackson with some clutch shotmaking and forced turnovers.

“It’s huge,” Crusaders coach Chris Crawford said. “I think a lot of people looked at the matchup and said that Jackson was gonna automatically win. They're a heck of a ballclub, and our girls showed up to play tonight.”

Saxony jumped out to an early lead with two big first-quarter and-1s, and the tough interior defense of the Crusaders held Jackson to just three points as Saxony’s lead ballooned to 10-3 after the first period.

Jackson’s lackluster start to the first half posed serious problems for its title aspirations as the crushing defense of Evie Caruso in the post limited where the Indians could get their points, throwing up early mid-range and 3-point shots to no avail.

But with some big hits late in the second quarter, Jackson rallied to tie the game up at 15-15 at the end of the first half on the heels of a 10-0 streak before the intermission.

Saxony regained its lead early, but the Indians defensively clicked into a groove and forced the Crusaders into several turnovers as the third quarter developed.

Jackson took the lead with an early triple and held on to salvage a 28-22 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Leading 34-26, Jackson began to get comfortable. On the other side, Saxony wasn’t finished. Then, the two collided.

“We train every day, we talk about this next play mentality,” Crawford said. “You make a mistake, you get back and play defense. If you make a mistake on defense, you go again.

“Our girls are tough mentally. They're tough physically. I'm super proud of the way that they've handled themselves.”

Abby Haley connected on a layup and the Crusaders’ first 3-pointer of the game on consecutive possessions to cut Jackson’s lead to 34-31 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Maddie Preusser connected on a jumper to take the lead a minute later at 35-34 Crusaders.

Haley’s takeover continued with an and-1 with two left to extend the lead to 38-34, eventually being the game-winning points as she emphasized Saxony’s raging ride to the finish.

“She was super important,” Crawford said. “I think what a lot of people don't realize is that she missed that wide-open layup and she was kind of mentally checked out.

“I told her. I said ‘We're going to need you in the fourth quarter.’ If that's how you're going to respond in the fourth quarter after that, that's pretty impressive in my opinion.”

Up a single point, Camille Richey drained two big free throws and iced out the win for Saxony, rallying back from down eight to take a 41-37 win and advance to the title game on Thursday night.

Abby Haley’s 13 points led the way for Saxony, 10 of which came in the fourth-quarter comeback. Becca Johnson added 9 points, while Evie Caruso chipped in 8 points on top of serving as the Crusaders’ defensive anchor.

On the opposing bench, Jackson’s Holland Guilliams scored a game-high 15 points in the loss, with Rachel Berger’s 8 finishing second among the Indians.

Saxony moves into a championship game against a highly-touted Delta team, and the respect comes with great reason.

Perennially running deep into the playoffs since David Heeb’s arrival, Delta’s press attack and stifling defense put most teams to bed by the end of the first quarter.

Crawford understands the task at hand, but he stresses the importance of the team’s game-by-game process. With three days to prepare for the Bobcats, he’ll go back to the drawing board before the Crusaders take the floor against Delta.

“We have a process,” Crawford said. “We're a process-based program, and we stick to our process. Whoever we're playing doesn't really matter to us.

“It's about us executing and us doing the things that we need to do to make sure that we're in the right position at the end of the ballgame.”