Jackie Holdridge, above, for the Lady Crusaders drives to the basket. She had a big night with 11 points in the 55-27 loss to Dale. (Photo by William Champion of Champworks Photography)
Crusaders forward Gabe Littlejim, pictured at left, with a jumpshot against Dale. He had 13 points in the loss. (Photo by William Champion of Champworks Photography)
by Derek Lewis
Last Friday was a rough day for Crusaders basketball as both the boys and girls teams lost to the Dale Pirates.
The Christian Heritage girls were first to take the court against the Dale Lady Pirates. They got off to a quick start holding a 4-0 lead. However by quarters end, the Pirates had stormed back to take a 12-6 lead going into the second quarter.
The second quarter all truly unraveled for the Lady Crusaders. Pirates’ Kamy Walk and Hannah Ash combined for 14 points as Dale had a 23 point quarter. Walk knocked down two 3-pointers in the quarter to give Dale a 35-10 lead at halftime.
Christian Heritage showed flashes in the fourth quarter outscoring the Lady Pirates 11-6, but still fell 55-27. Turnovers were the main culprit for the loss. The Lady Crusaders had 17 turnovers while the Pirates had just seven.
Jackie Holdridge had her best game for the Lady Crusaders with 11 points and 3 steals. Hannah Ash led the way for the Lady Pirates with 12 points and Dani Manning chipped in with 10 points of her own for the Lady Pirates.
“The score doesn’t matter for us right now. We’re just focused on getting better,” said Holdridge after the game.
Next up, the Christian Heritage boys took the court. It was a physical game that got extremely chippy at times between both teams.
Crusaders forward Gabe Littlejim came out hot scoring seven first quarter points yet after the quarter, the score was knotted up at 15 points apiece.
The middle quarters spelled doom for the Crusaders. They put up four points each in the second and third quarter. Even though the Pirates didn’t explode on offense, the lack of scoring put the Crusaders in a big hole after three quarters.
The Crusaders lack of scoring was caused by a devastating full court press by the Pirates which caused 10 turnovers to the Pirates’ three.
Down 36-23 after three quarters, Christian Heritage fought to pull off a last quarter comeback getting the lead down to a two possession game. However, multiple looks for Gabe Littlejim wouldn’t fall to cut the deficit any further.
Ultimately, the Crusaders fell to the Dale Pirates 48-36. Pirates guard Jace Wilkins led all scorers with 14 points. Gabe Littlejim led the Crusaders effort with 13 points of his own.
The Crusaders have lost their last two games after starting off the season 3-0.
