HTC gets snagged at Lone Tree

LONE TREE — Shawn Hopper wanted some whistles.
Holy Trinity’s girls basketball team was in an inside battle with Lone Tree in Tuesday’s Class 1A Region 7 quarterfinal, and Hopper, the Crusaders’ coach, was hoping his team could get to the free-throw line.
By the time the Crusaders started shooting free throws in the third and fourth quarters, Lone Tree was in command of the game.
The 55-36 loss to the Lady Lions ended the Crusaders’ season and left Hopper frustrated with the outcome.
“There was a point, especially in the third quarter, where I felt like we weren’t getting any calls,” Hopper said. “We were getting good looks, we were going to the basket. We should have been at the free-throw a little sooner, and we weren’t. That kind of got us out of our offense. That physicalness got us out of our offense.”
Holy Trinity (15-7) was down 27-26 with 3:05 left in the third quarter before Lone Tree (20-3) went on a 9-0 run. The Crusaders didn’t get to the free-throw line until 23 seconds left in the third quarter, and trailed 36-29 going into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Lions then scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, and kept the lead in double digits throughout the rest of the game.
“It was kind of sad, knowing how close we were in the first half,” said senior Anna Bendlage. “It just kind of fell apart in the second half.”
“I think, in the second half, they applied a lot of pressure on us, and we didn't get some calls,” said senior Teagan Snaadt, who led Holy Trinity with 15 points. “And then when we did get the calls, we failed to make our free throws.”
Snaadt’s shooting — she had three first-half 3-pointers — gave the Crusaders a 15-12 lead in the second quarter before Lone Tree finished the half with a 9-0 run. The Lady Lions’ defense spent the second half focusing on Snaadt, and that opened up the inside for Adalyn Kruse, who had all 11 of her points in the second half before an injury knocked her out of the game for the final four minutes.
‘They were face-guarding me all throughout the second half,” Snaadt said.
It was a disappointing end of the season for the Crusaders.
“Coming off a season like last year (when Holy Trinity reached the regional semifinals), I didn’t know what to expect,” said Hopper, who was an assistant coach last season before taking over as head coach. “I knew Teagan was going to give us a lot of energy, a lot of leadership. Anna was going to do the same. But there were a lot of question marks. I really appreciated everyone who came out and gave us great effort — everybody did their part.”
“I'm sad, but I felt like we had a good four years,” Snaadt said. “This year I didn't know what to think of it, losing a lot of seniors from last year, and we still put up 15 wins and that's good. 
“It’s just sad knowing it’s over,” Bendlage said. “Everyone thought we weren't going to be very good and we still ended up with 15 wins. That’s a pretty good season, so I would tell everyone to just keep working, and keep stepping up, and they'll do just as good as we did this year, if not better.”