Sarah Lorimor
Taking a five-game losing streak into Thursday night’s regular-season finale, the Columbus Christian girls needed a turnaround to get back a little momentum heading into next weekend’s ICSSA South Regional.
The Crusaders found their winning ways once again with a 62-27 victory against Mooresville Christian.
“We were kind of having a bit of a losing streak, so we finally were just tired of it,” said senior Sarah Lorimor, who led the Crusaders with 23 points and 11 rebounds. “I’m looking forward to how we play in the regional.”
Columbus Christian (13-9) jumped out to a 26-2 lead after one quarter and cruised from there.
“It was really good,” Lorimor said. “We finally decided to just not let the other team set the pace, and we came out and decided to take control from the start. Our press worked really well. We were talking a lot more than we have been, so everyone was realizing where their offense was on the court. We were just really working well this game.”
The Crusaders forced 33 turnovers, including 14 in that first quarter. Columbus Christian coach Chris Noblitt took the full-court press off after that first period.
“We brought a lot of pressure the first quarter,” Noblitt said. “I thought we trapped real well. Then after that, we played some more defenses we wanted to try out and thought we did pretty well. We had some things we wanted to get better at, and I thought we did a good job the rest of the game, too. The girls worked hard tonight.”
Lauren Sanders scored 12 points, and Emma Murray added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Crusaders, who outrebounded the Eagles 36-32.
Columbus Christian will host the boys regional Feb. 24-25 and the girls regional Feb. 25 and 27. The Crusader girls will play Christian Academy of Madison in the semifinals at around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25.
“It’s a real good win going into it,” Noblitt said. “We had a little rough patch there.”
Columbus Christian 62, Mooresville Christian 27
Mooresville Christian;2;10;9;6;—;27
Columbus Christian;26;11;12;13;—;62
Mooresville Christian (2-14): Michalie Marks 12-4 4, Cassidy Wright 17-12 9, Korah Pitcock 1 0-0 2, Alaina Stout 2 0-0 4, Moriah Coffey 2 0-1 6, Lincoln Shockley 0 0-0 0, Bailey Hayden 1 0-0 2. Totals: 8 9-19 27.
Columbus Christian (13-9): Sarah Lorimor 11 1-2 23, Eva Blair 3 0-0 6, Madi Blair 1 0-0 2, Paige Harden 3 0-0 6, Katie Bond 1 1-2 3, Lauren Sanders 4 1-1 12, Belle Blair 0 0-0 0, Mara Nickerson 0 0-0 0, Emma Murray 5 0-0 10. Totals: 28 3-5 62.
3-point goals: Mooresville Christian 2 (Coffey 2); Columbus Christian 3 (Sanders 3).
