Columbus Christian’s Sarah Lorimor, center, drives to the basket after bringing the ball down court against Martinsville Tabernacle Christian during the ICSAA South Regional final at Columbus Christian Monday February 28, 2022.
Greg Jones | For The Republic
A young Columbus Christian team struggled to get anything going against a long, athletic and talented Martinsville Tabernacle Christian team in Monday night’s Indiana Christian Schools Athletic Association South Regional final.
As a result, the Crusaders saw their season come to and end with a 53-25 defeat, denying them a chance to play on their home floor in Saturday’s ICSAA state final four.
“They’re a good team,” Columbus Christian coach Chris Noblitt said. “They can shoot, and they’re very aggressive defensively. We didn’t handle their pressure too well. We had too many turnovers, I thought. When we moved the ball, we got shots, but we turned it over a little too quick in possessions. We just didn’t execute what we thought we were going to be able to do.”
The Crusaders (16-10) turned it over 21 times in the first half in falling behind 32-12 at the break. They had only five turnovers in the second half.
Sarah Lorimor, who came in averaging about 20 points a game, led Columbus Christian with seven points and seven rebounds. Madi Blair added six points.
“The fourth quarter, I thought we played well,” Noblitt said. “They played a box-in-one on Sarah, and that kind of rattled us. We had planned for that, but we just didn’t execute. When they went man, we handled it better. When teams play man, we can score pretty well, but their pressure on defense, we struggled.”
Annie Sichting, the granddaughter of former Martinsville, Purdue and Boston Celtics star Jerry Sichting, led Tabernacle Christian (16-1) with 23 points, while Emma Roll added 16 points and 11 rebounds. Although Sichting and Roll are only about 5-foot-3, the rest of the Tabernacle Christian starters were taller than all of the Crusaders.
“Their size bothered us, and they’re strong, quick, physical and just overall a real good team,” Noblitt said.
With no graduating seniors, Noblitt is looking forward to see how his team can improve for next season.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group,” Noblitt said. “Coming into the year how young we are, they showed up to work every day. There’s a lot of upside. I know they’re going to put a lot of work in in the offseason. They’re hungry for next year already.”
