HTC girls start with win over WACO

Short-handed

I told them before the game it’s going to take all however many of us play tonight,” he said. “You never replace the player. You just try to replace the production.”

Tony Johnson, HTC girls head coach

FORT MADISON - Tony Johnson wasn’t sure what he was going to get out of his Holy Trinity girls basketball team in Monday’s season opener against WACO.
His mind was eased when the Crusaders scored the first 14 points of the game.
That early start steadied Holy Trinity in the 50-42 win over the Warriors.
“Honestly, I thought they played really good,” Johnson said. “They did a really good job of rebounding, a really good job of communicating on defense and offense. When we keep the ball moving, we get the ball to where we want for the shot.”
Teagan Snaadt scored 21 points to lead the Crusaders, who have had to reconstruct what they wanted to do in the preseason.
Johnson knew before the season started that he would be without junior guard Natalie Randolph, who suffered a knee injury in preseason volleyball practice. Randolph was the Crusaders’ second leading scorer and leading 3-point shooter last season.
Then junior Mary Kate Bendlage, the team’s leading scorer last season, suffered a knee injury in preseason practice and is also lost for the rest of the season.
Johnson pointed out how Holy Trinity’s volleyball team, which reached the state tournament, worked together after Randolph’s injury. He has seen the same in his team without Bendlage.
“I told them before the game it’s going to take all however many of us play tonight,” he said. “You never replace the player. You just try to replace the production.”
Holy Trinity struggled in a preseason scrimmage against Keokuk, and Johnson wasn’t sure how that would translate into the season opener.
“We hammered on defense in practice,” he said. “Like, three days in a row. I know it was boring to them, but in the long run…”
It paid off, as the Crusaders kept WACO (1-1) scoreless until Ellah Kissel’s layup with 1:15 left in the first quarter. By then, Holy Trinity was in command after its 14-0 start.
The Crusaders led by as much as 18 points in the second quarter before the Warriors chipped into their lead. They would never cut the margin to single digits until the final 80 seconds of the game.
“It’s just early-season blues,” Johnson said of his team’s missed shots, particularly in the second half. “Everybody has them. But everything they did was positive. And I didn’t see anything that was any kind of negative whatsoever to take from this.”
Snaadt, a sophomore, controlled the Crusaders’ offense.
“God love her, she did a great job,” Johnson said. “She probably played close to 32 minutes tonight.”
Reagan Holdout had eight points for the Crusaders. Kayla Box and Presley Myers each had seven.
Kissel led WACO with 15 points.