Staff Reports
DAYTON, Tenn. — Columbus Christian’s girls won the Division 6 consolation bracket to finish fifth in that division at the National Association of Christian Athletes Tournament.
The Crusaders beat New Life Christian Academy from Fayetteville, North Carolina, 47-34 Friday morning in the consolation final. Columbus Christian jumped out to a 27-14 halftime lead and cruised from there.
Kayla Jones recorded 20 points and eight rebounds, and Sarah Lorimor had 14 points, eight rebounds and six steals to lead the Crusaders (10-6). Madison Henderson added nine points and six rebounds.
Columbus Christian bounced back from a loss on Wednesday with wins on Thursday and Friday.
“Our first game that we lost, the girls played hard,” Columbus Christian girls coach Kay Jones said. “I feel like that was the best competition we played throughout the week. It was different this year without the pool play, so we had to adjust. It was good to see that the girls played hard and still did well.”
The Crusader boys, meanwhile, fell to Mt. View Christian from Alabama 47-41 in Friday’s Division 6 consolation final. The game was tied 32-32 after three quarters before Mt. View outscored Columbus Christian 15-9 in the final period.
Gabe Ridder led the Crusaders (21-16) with 21 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. Jacob Conrad, who went over the 1,000-point mark for his career on Thursday, added nine on Friday.
“We were in each game,” Columbus Christian boys coach Kevin Roth said. “It wasn’t a situation where we were blown out. We were competitive. We return a lot of underclassmen that got some minutes because of injuries. We’ll look forward to next year with those guys.”
Both the Crusader boys and girls teams were recognized with the Sportsmanship Award for Division 6.
“I thought it spoke well of the kids and keeping focused on the games because it’s very physical play down here, compared to what we play in the regular season,” said Roth, who also is the school’s athletics director. “They didn’t retaliate and just kept playing and didn’t worry about the calls or anything.”
