Saxony Lutheran downs Festus at home

Despite a quick turnaround following Monday’s win over Poplar Bluff, the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders got right back to work on Tuesday.

The Crusaders picked up a 56-47 win over the Festus Tigers on Tuesday afternoon at Saxony Lutheran High School.

“I’m happy with the win,” Crusaders coach Chris Crawford said. “We just didn’t play very well I didn’t think. We didn’t defend like we usually do, we just looked a little bit lethargic.”

After the opening eight minutes saw the Crusaders take a 15-11 lead, a dominant closing stretch in the second quarter allowed Saxony Lutheran to create some separation.

Senior guard Rebecca Johnson had the biggest impact in the dominant second quarter as she poured in 8 points including a big three-pointer followed by a layup to push the lead to 29-20 for the Crusaders.

With time dwindling in the second quarter, Maddie Preusser found Camille Richey cutting backdoor for a layup to give Saxony Lutheran a 31-20 lead entering the locker room at halftime.

“We were smart with the basketball and we pushed the ball,” Crawford said. “A lot of times if we run we’re a hard team to beat.”

For the majority of the game the Crusaders simply out-hustled and out-worked the Tigers, especially on the defensive end of the court.

“They fought through some things,” Crawford said. “We’re a little bit fatigued.”

The work being done on the defensive end was showing up on the offensive end as just five minutes into the second half, the Crusaders expanded their lead to 42-25.

The 17-point lead five minutes into the third quarter eventually sat at a 16-point lead as the Crusaders led 47-31 entering the fourth quarter.

Down 16 in the fourth it was desperation time for the Tigers and it showed as they quickly cut the lead down to 6 with 2 minutes remaining.

“I think we were just turning the ball over and were a little lackadaisical with the ball,” Crawford said. “We weren’t totally locked in and you know a 4:30 game on a Tuesday after you played the night before, I knew that was going to happen.”

Despite the late rally, Saxony Lutheran was able to hang on to win 56-47.

“I’m glad that we won,” Crawford said. “But, anybody will tell you, there’s a lot of things that we can work on. At this point in the season we’re just trying to fine tune things.”

Leading the scoring for the Crusaders was Johnson and Abby Haley who both scored 18 points in the win.

Also contributing were Camille Richey with 6 points, Maci Hollis with 6 points, and Annie Adams and Evie Caruso with 4 points each.

Saxony Lutheran (15-6) wraps up its four-game home stand at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, when the Crusaders host the Kennett Indians.

“We’re going to have to be smarter defensively and we’re going to have to take care of the basketball,” Crawford said. “Kennett’s got a really quick guard and they have a good big.”