HTC girls stave off Van Buren

FORT MADISON – They just keep finding a way to win.
The Holy Trinity Catholic girls are still learning to play together as well as recovering from a grueling volleyball season, but somehow they’ve climbed out of adversity in almost every game to stay unbeaten at 6-0.
The Lady Crusaders have been blessed with five of those wins coming at home and Head Coach Shawn Hopper said the second half of the season will be tough.
But in the meantime, the Crusaders won their second game in a row by three points with a 44-41 win over Van Buren in a physical contest at Shottenkirk gym Tuesday night.
The Warriors gave HTC all they wanted and then some after Holy Trinity escaped with a 36-33 win over West Burlington on the road. Head Coach Shawn Hopper said the West Burlington game showed some effort issues.
“We felt like, when we went back to look at the West Burlington game,  the effort wasn’t there. We’ve got some younger players on this team and we’re going to make mistakes, and we’ll play through that,” Hopper said.
“But there’s no excuse for lack of effort, and tonight I thought that effort was there.”
The Crusaders fell behind by seven early on, trailing 13-6 at the end of the first half, but then junior Adalyn Kruse and freshman Olivia Bendlage heated up in the second quarter. The two would combine for 20 first-half points, including Bendlage’s two 3-balls to bring Holy Trinity back to a tie at 16 with three minutes left in the half.
The Lady Crusaders would go on an 8-3 run to finish up the first half with a 22-19 lead.
Van Buren would return the favor in the third quarter, outscoring Holy Trinity 18-10 sparked by Marlee Mertens' eight points in the quarter.
With senior Teagan Snaadt riding the bench in the second half fighting off an illness, Izzy Behne and Ellie Hellman got some playing time. The Crusaders lacked a little of the quickness and slashing ability they get from Snaadt and still trailed going into the final four minutes of the game.
Snaadt then returned and made her impact felt immediately as she recored a steal and a bucket in transition to give the Crusaders their first lead of the second half at 40-39. The Van Buren pressure on the younger squad gave Holy Trinity some experience against full court pressure, but Hopper couldn’t keep Snaadt off the floor much longer than he did.
“She just brings that extra gear. One-on-one she’s almost always going to get around you. She brings that “oh-no” factor. When others see her come in they’re like ‘oh-no’,” Hopper said.

Anna Bendlage scored four of her six points on the night inside with less than two minutes left to give HTC the space it needed to secure the win. The senior would score inside and then again after a Crusader stop on a 17-foot jumper from above the freethrow line to give HTC a 44-39 lead with less than a minute to go.
Van Buren sophomore Daphny Wells would convert a couple late freethrows to set the final score.
Hopper said he was happy with the way the Crusaders played again under some duress.
“I’m actually pretty proud of the way we fought through. Teagan wasn’t feeling well tonight and that’s why she was out a little bit in the third and fourth quarter. We had a little bit of foul trouble tonight and that’s us not being disciplined with defense,” he said.
 “I think we were down five at one point and we didn’t seem to let that bother us."
Behne played in all four quarters and Hopper said her play could have been the difference in the game.
“Izzy played more tonight and I told the assistants to get her in. She needs to play more minutes,” Hopper said.
“She did a great job and we’re going to need her. As a matter of fact, I would say aside from Teagan’s key two minutes in the fourth quarter, Izzy may have been the difference tonight.”
The Lady Crusaders move to 6-0, 4-0 in the SEI Superconference South and are tied with Mediapolis atop the division. They travel to Burlington Notre Dame (1-5, 1-3) Friday night.
Kruse finished with 16 points in the win Tuesday, followed by Olivia Bendlage’s 10. Anna Bendlage and Behne each had six points for HTC.
Van Buren (4-2, 2-2) was led by Mertens with 13.