By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Country Christian Girls Basketball team settled in defensively in the fourth quarter against Crosshill Christian on Saturday afternoon at the Crusader Classic.
They had better ball rotation, shortening it during those final eight minutes to create issues on the Eagles offense. Offensively, they were able to break down the stagnation that Crosshill Christian put them in and started to open up the court once again for them.
In a game as close as it was throughout after a hot start by the 1A Cougars against 2A Eagles, those minor adjustments proved to be enough for Country Christian to come out on top 42-38 as they wrap up non-league play Tuesday at East Linn Christian.
“Crosshill is a potential Pendleton team, I do. If they stay healthy. We got to see a lot of that stuff here, even getting a butt kicking here too,” said Cougars Head Coach Russ Halverson. “When you walk out of here 2-1, you come out of here celebrating if you’re in the Green Tournament. I’m really happy about it. We learned some things to do and we need to be able to do that because we’re going to have to do that against teams we’re going to see in the playoffs. “
For Crosshill Christian, they wrap up the tournament 1-2. But came back down 10-0 to start the contest, and gave themselves a chance late to take one from the premier teams in the 1A Classification on Saturday late.
“We battled back and got some steals and got some open lane lay-ups, it was a tight game the rest of the way,” said Crosshill Head Coach Kevin Baker. “We league approaching and playoffs after that, we’re just hoping to improve and get better. Games like this gets you ready for playoffs.”
Crosshill Christian will host Illinois Valley on January 9.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
