Saxony girls outmatched by Park Hills Central

The Saxony Lutheran Crusaders girls basketball team was defeated by the Park Hills Central Rebels 72-51 on Monday at Saxony Lutheran High School. The 2023 Class 4 third-place Rebels are currently ranked ninth in Class 4 and were simply too much for the Crusaders.

Rebecca Johnson led the offense of the Crusaders with 17 points, followed by Abigail Haley and Evie Caruso with 13 and 11, respectively.

Park Hills came out with the hot hand from three, going 4-4 from beyond the arc in the first quarter. The Crusaders only scored if they were out quick in transition or from the free throw line, and Saxony trailed 25-8 after the first.

The swarming full-court press defense of the Rebels throughout the first half made it virtually impossible for the Crusaders to score. This combined with Saxony’s defensive struggles and Park Hills shooting nearly 80% from three made the Rebels run away with the lead. The Crusaders went into the locker room down 49-20.

Saxony head coach Chris Crawford said the team played slightly scared in the first half.

“We kind of went away from the things that we generally do well, and that's frustrating,” Crawford said. “But because we came back and at least battled in the second half, I was proud of them for that.”

The second half went much better for the Crusaders, outscoring the Rebels 31-24 but the deficit was just too much. Saxony stepped up on both ends of the court, holding the Rebels to 15 while scoring 13 themselves, still trailing 30 points but showing a lot of fight down 64-33 after three.

Saxony opened the fourth on an 11-0 run to bring the lead down to 20, Park Hills used a timeout and put their first team back in, having brought the reserves in too early. The Crusaders never got any closer than 20 but also never gave up, the Rebels ultimately took the victory.

Crawford said his team came out of halftime with better energy and the Rebels stopped making threes.

“I think our energy was a little bit different after halftime, I think we were a little bit smarter about the way that we defended and they[Park Hills] missed shots,” Crawford said. “They didn't miss anything in the first half. I don't know what the percentage was but it was a very high percentage from three in the first half, and not all of those were wide open, so hats off to them for drilling threes when they needed to. We just gotta be better.”

Saxony Lutheran will next compete in the Jackson Lady Indian Showcase on Saturday at Jackson High School beginning at 9 a.m.