Following a first half that was dominated by South Decatur, Columbus Christian sprung to life in the third quarter Thursday night.
The Cougars, however, had a big enough advantage that their lead was never in doubt, and they closed their girls basketball regular season with a 65-32 victory.
"I told them we can’t be a team anymore that comes out the second half," Columbus Christian coach Kay Jones said. "We have to be a team that comes out the first quarter and doesn’t stop fighting until the fourth quarter buzzer goes off."
South Decatur (6-17) jumped out to a 20-4 lead after one quarter behind 12 points in the period from Lana Bell. The Cougars built the margin to 35-6 at halftime.
After South Decatur extended its lead to 42-8, the Crusaders (11-7) finished the third quarter on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to 44-21.
"I said (at halftime), ‘This is not us,’" Jones said. "I said, ‘We’ve practiced, and we’ve worked hard,’ and they needed to turn it around. I told them to go out there and take back the court, work our offense and rebound because we weren’t rebounding, and limit our turnovers. They came back out and played harder. I said, ‘You have to dig deep, and you have to come back and play like you played at the beginning of the season.’"
Bell finished with 19 points to lead the Cougars.
"I think we did a good job," Bell said. "I think we passed the ball and shared the ball well throughout the whole game."
South Decatur’s Madison Owens added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
"I thought we moved the ball a lot better than what we normally do," Owens said. "This game is really going to help us get the momentum for the (sectional)."
Kayla Jones led Columbus Christian with 10 points and seven rebounds. Madison Henderson scored nine points, and Ellie Ridder added eight points.
Grace Lorimor also grabbed seen rebounds for the Crusaders, who were outrebounded only 37-35.
"The second half, we turned the ball over a little bit more than what we wanted, but give Columbus credit," South Decatur coach Stacy Fox said. "They knocked down five 3s there in the second half. They spread the corners of that zone out, and they converted from the baseline and put some points on the board. This is a good matchup for us right before sectional for a couple of reasons. They stayed in their zone, and it gave us a chance to work some zone offense and get a lot of players in and see what everybody can contribute down the stretch."
