COLONY It may not be one to remember for either team but at the end, it was Southern Coffey County girls who could call the 21-20 season-opening slog a win after they fought past a tough Crest team on their home court Thursday night.
It was just brutally ugly, SCC head coach Jeff True said. I dont know if Ive ever seen a game where both teams struggled shooting from point-blank range as much as we both did tonight. I knew that would be a problem for us because we just dont have a lot of natural shooters but especially when youre winded and you have the adrenaline pumping, it doesnt take a lot to throw off shots.
Turnovers, missed shots and fouls were on full display, especially in the first half as the game crawled to a 7-0 advantage for SCC after the first quarter. At that point in the game, both teams had committed as many fouls (7) as points.
Little by little, Crest started to pick up momentum and after outscoring the Titans in the second and third quarter and taking their first lead at 15-14 at the end of the quarter, both teams tied back up at 17 early in the fourth.
We started too slow, Crest head coach Megan Mason said. Once we started changing up the defense really fast on them and pressuring them then thats when we started to see success. But Im really proud of the girls for finding themselves. I challenged them at the end of halftime to play like they did last year because they werent. And they came out and fought hard.
Down the stretch of the fourth quarter, a three from Crest freshman Lindsey Godderz gave Crest a 20-19 lead with around a minute and a half to play. Godderz ended the night with a team-high eight points in her first high school game.
She blew me away, Mason said. She took control, was dribbling the ball and all three of her buckets were huge. She showed up. For a freshman in her first high school game, that performance was really encouraging to see.
Southern Coffey County pushed back ahead though with two free throws.
With around a minute to play, Crest had several opportunities to retake the lead but couldnt get that go-ahead basket to fall.
I was happy with our defense, True said. That and our leadership really came through for us. We can play seven or eight girls who have significant varsity experience so thats a real strength for us.
Southern Coffey County was led in scoring by junior Bryli Copeland who had six followed by four for senior Haven Harvey, three for senior Crystal Alumbaugh and juniors Kyra Ohl and Reed Szambecki and two for sophomore Emersyn Hall.
For Crest, after Godderzs eight, sophomore Aubree Holloran had six points, three for senior Camryn Strickler, two for senior Regan Godderz and one for senior Cassie Bowen.
The Titans will head into Yates Centers Winter Wildcat Classic next week while Crest will compete in Humboldts tournament.
I think the girls took for granted that they have subs this year and were not in nearly as good of shape as we should be, Mason said. Having said that though, this is a lot better start that last year. We got blow away by (SCC) last season. So I cant be 100 percent upset with how things played out.
