Excitement filled the crowd Tuesday night as the Christian Heritage Academy Crusaders took on the rival Oklahoma Christian School Saints.

While OCS took a victory in the girls’ game winning 38-26, the boys, ranked 18th in 2A, kept rolling winning their 11th straight game 60-42.

The Lady Crusaders played well against OCS keeping the game close almost the entire time.

CHA hung around thanks in large part to sophomore Victoria Frolich, who led the team from the point guard position. Frolich snagged 2 rebounds and 3 steals by the end of the game and a basket each quarter for 8 points on the night.

However, Frolich wasn’t the only playmaker for the team; Hannah Chandler, Riley Hendrick, Jackie Holdridge and Logan Ross all made an impact on the game.

Chandler scored 10 points, most of which came in the fourth quarter, and brought down 4 rebounds against the Saints.

Hendrick scored 2 points and wrangled 2 rebounds while Holdridge threw in 4 points to help their team stay close to the Lady Saints. Last but not least, Ross scored 2 points and grabbed 2 rebounds.

Standing out on the other side of the court was senior Megan Fay and senior Nicole Aparico. Fay towered over the CHA team easily scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds while dishing out 3 assists to teammate Nicole Aparico.

Aparico herself scored 15 points and snagged 4 rebounds on the night.

Even these standout players couldn’t have won without help. This help came from Emily Hass, who had a rebound on the night, Kennedy Essmiller with 3 rebounds, Kamber LeBlanc with 6 points and 4 rebounds, and Madi Duncan with 7 points.

“Most of it’s just hard work,” said Coach Troop Bullard of the Lady Crusaders’ continued improvement. “They’ve got a lot better and they’ve worked hard, that’s the main thing.”

Boys keep rolling

The boys’ game was highlighted by great team work that only comes from a team that plays like their brothers, or in CHA’s case, are actually brothers.

Both the brothers’ Littlejim and Lindsey, consisting of Caleb and Gabe Littlejim, and Colton and Spencer Lindsey, started the game and it was easy to see why.

With the help of the remaining starter on the team Braden Mikes, the CHA men took control of the game from the start and never looked back.

C. Lindsey stood apart from his brother and the rest of the team in this game as he scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds with the next highest scorer G. Littlejim helping with 11 points.

G. Littlejim may not have stood out as much, but he was still an impact player in the game. Aside from his 11 points, he also had 4 rebounds and 1 assist.

While G. Littlejim was working hard in the scoring stat column, C. Littlejim was taking over the assist department. He had 5 on the night to go along with 9 points.

The last brother, S. Lindsey was not far behind by any means. He scored 9 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, stole the ball once and had an assist during the game.

Rounding out the starters, Mikes scored 6 points himself along with an assist. Drew Stark and Jayson Skalla also scored 2 points each.

On the defensive side of the ball, Skalla, Jonathan Jossell and Micah Wilson each brought down a rebound.

Trey Hoehner was the lead scorer for the Saints with 14 points. Hoehner also snagged a rebound during the game. Not far behind Hoehner, Luke Frankfort scored 12 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and even managed a steal.

“We played really good defensively. We haven’t played a whole lot of man this year and we did a good job in man,” said CHA Head Coach Heath Kufahl. “[OCS] struggled to get good shots. I was proud of them.”

Kufahl knows his offense will be there but it’s the improvement on defense that will carry the team come February.

“We have a whole bunch of guys that can score and we haven’t focused on defense as much as we should, but if we can play that kind of defense, we can do some things,” said Kufahl. “We’re trying to get better defensively definitely.”

Christian Heritage doesn’t get much time to rest as they face off against Southwest Covenant at home Friday, Jan. 31.