Saxony Lutheran uses big second half to blow by Cape Central

The Chris Crawford era began with a win for the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders as they downed the Cape Central Tigers 59-41 on Monday at Saxony Lutheran High School.

Crawford said it was nice to get win number one out of the way.

“It has everything to do with the girls and my assistant coaches more than it does me,” Crawford said. “I’m happy to get that one out of the way and not have to think about it anymore.”

It was a tale of two halves for the Crusaders as they led 14-12 after the first quarter before heading into the locker room at halftime trailing 25-24.

“We got a little bit sped up by some of their pressure at times,” Crawford said. “But, we said we were going to make our living on the defensive end and we did that by forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets.”

Crawford knew coming in that the game would be sloppy with it being the first game for both teams.

“I told them yesterday it would be sloppy because they’re not used to playing with each other at this intensity and speed,” Crawford said. “SEMO Conference games are always going to be intense and Cape is well coached. It’s going to be a dogfight every night and we’re happy to get out of here with a win.”

Perhaps the most promising part of the game for the Crusaders was the way they rotated defensively.

“They looked pretty good tonight,” Crawford said. “But, in the first half we lacked a level of intensity that we have and it just wasn’t there and that had a lot to do with us being a little slow rotating (early on). We played really well in help side defense so I’m proud of them for that.”

Coming out of the locker room at halftime the Crusaders took control, winning the second half 35-16 to run away with the win.

“We had different people in certain moments that were great,” Crawford said. “Everybody picked each other up. It was one of those things where we had each other’s backs and that’s what we preach.”

Cape Central (0-1) has the test of the week off before beginning play in the SEMO Conference Tournament at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28, when the No. 4 seeded Tigers play the No. 5 seeded Kennett Indians at New Madrid County Central.

Saxony Lutheran (1-0) will also be idle until the SEMO Conference Tournament where they are the No. 3 seed. The Crusaders open play at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27, against the No. 6 seeded Dexter Bearcats at New Madrid County Central.