Danville roughs up Crusaders to end 10-game winning streak

DANVILLE — Holy Trinity wasn’t going down without a second-half fight.

The Crusaders’ comeback wasn’t enough in a bruising 56-49 loss to Danville on Monday night, but coach Tony Johnson said the game was a lesson for the Class 1A regional tournament that begins next week.

“We’re always going to keep fighting,” Johnson said. “All year, we’ve lost one game in overtime, and then this one. Our two losses have been close games, we could have won both of them. You can learn from losses sometimes, and I think we can learn from this as we get ready for the postseason.”

Holy Trinity (15-2 overall, 10-2 SEI Superconference South Division) had its 10-game winning streak snapped, while Danville (13-4, 10-2) extended its winning streak to 13 games.

The Crusaders were down 33-22 at halftime, but gradually cut into the Bears’ lead in the second half, eventually tying the game at 47 when Adalyn Kruse made 1-of-2 free throws with 2:59 to play. But Danville was able to pull away in the closing minutes.

Free throws played a key role in the game. Danville, which was called for 13 fouls, was 17-of-31 from the line while Holy Trinity, which was whistled for 26 fouls, was 11-of-23.

“We just didn’t get any breaks tonight,” Johnson said.

Holy Trinity led for most of the first quarter before Danville’s Kenna Furnald hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to tie the game at 15. The Bears outscored Holy Trinity 18-7 in the second quarter, holding the Crusaders without a field goal over the final 3:59.

“We just had a hard time moving on offense, getting where we wanted, getting into position,” Johnson said. “We had good shots. We had shots we wanted at times. When we stayed under control, and played like we wanted to, and not play helter-skelter like they wanted to, we were fine. It was when it turned into helter-skelter that we had problems.”

The Crusaders, though, rallied in the second half.

“In the first half, they were outrebounding us and outhustling us a little bit,” Johnson said. “We cleaned it up in the third quarter, kept cutting into the lead, tied the game. Then at the end it just got away from us.”

Mary Kate Bendlage led Holy Trinity with 19 points. Teagan Snaadt and Natalie Randolph each had seven.

Furnald led Danville with 19 points. Alania Gourley and Jaeda Molle each had 12.