Columbus Christian dug itself into a hole with a slow start and an even slower second quarter that it couldn’t dig out of against visiting Colonial Christian on Tuesday night in a 51-36 setback.
Turnovers and cold shooting were the Achilles for the Crusaders in the first half.
Although Columbus Christian had trouble finding the basket in the first quarter, Colonial Christian didn’t exactly take advantage. Colonial was only able to muster a six-point lead at 13-6 after one quarter.
The second quarter, however was a different story for the visiting Cougars. They continued to utilize their full-court press and give the Cruasders fits, turning them over.
These turnovers, unlike the opening quarter, turned into points. Colonial Christian went on a 16-4 run the last 6 minutes of the quarter to take a 32-12 halftime lead.
Grace Lorimor did everything she could for the Crusaders, scoring eight of the team’s total first-half points.
Coming out of the locker room, the Crusaders were able to quickly cut the lead to 16 with 5:52 remaining in the period. It was then that Columbus Christian’s Kayla Jones went on a run by herself, scoring six straight points in 30 seconds to cut the Cougars’ lead to 37-25.
But that is as close as the Crusaders would get for the remainder of the contest. Although Columbus Christian outscored Colonial Christian by five points in the quarter, it still trailed 40-25 entering the fourth.
The Cougars were able to put the game away early in the period, going on a 9-3 run to up their lead back to 21 points with five minutes left in the game.
Lorimor finished with 14 and Jones 11 to lead the Crusaders.
