By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– The Crosshill Christian Girls Basketball identity this season has been aggressive ball play.
They want to press, create opportunities with steals and push the pace when they do create those opportunities. And in Wednesday’s game, though it took them a quarter for their shots to finally fall, their press-and-tempo approach worked pretty well against Clatskanie.
“We want to be an aggressive defense and we want to play with pace. Pace is everything, it’s what we’re trying to do. We did a pretty good job with that tonight, the girls created a lot of steals,” said Eagles Head Coach Kevin Baker. “They were aggressive and they played really, really hard. I’m so proud of our kids.
“Late in the game, we went into more of a full court pressure and made some steals and made some lay-ups. That’s what we’re trying to do. Just trying to get easy buckets for our kids.”
Their defense came in clutch in the second half to seal the 49-40 home victory.
After building a 27-19 lead in the opening moments of the second half, Crosshill Christian saw the Tigers cut their lead to six with roughly 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It was a 30-24 Eagle lead, but a few quick stops and baskets allowed Crosshill Christian to rebuild a ten-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
And their defense once again came in clutch in the final two minutes of the game, holding off Clatskanie’s late game push to come out of the game with their second victory of the season. Their second in a row following their opening night defeat to Regis on December 3.
“It’s a really good start for us. Last year we struggled, we had a super tough schedule, so the start was rough for us. This year, we still got a good schedule with good teams, our kids are just really locked in and focused,” said Baker. “It’s my third year here at Crosshill and it’s the best we’ve played this season. We’re playing really good ball for the point of the season we’re in.”
Zoey Baker led Crosshill with 16 points. Khloie Cobb contributed another 15 points and Chloe Ropp scored another 11 points for the Eagles in the win. Crosshill Christian travels to Knappa on Saturday before hosting Portland Christian on December 16.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
