LADY CRUSADERS

HTC girls stumble at home

West Burlington hands Crusaders fourth loss in five games

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FORT MADISON - The game was left at the free-throw line.
Holy Trinity’s 37-31 girls basketball loss to West Burlington was all about what the Crusaders had squandered.
Turnovers, and the Crusaders’ inability to run their offense because of them, also hurt.
But in a six-point loss, it was easy for coach Shawn Hopper to see what his team had left behind with a 2-of-12 shooting night in free throws.
“You shoot 50 percent from the free-throw line, and you win this game,” Hopper said. “And we shoot a lot of free throws in practice. We just can’t…”
He didn’t finish the thought.
Holy Trinity (9-4 overall, 6-4 Southeast Iowa Super Conference South Division) has lost four of its last five games.
“You don’t execute the offense, you don’t make free throws, and that’s what happens,” Hopper said.
The Crusaders had an early 10-0 run to take an 11-6 lead in the first quarter, then the offense struggled behind turnovers and a 1 of 8 performance at the free-throw line in the first half to trail 17-15 at halftime.
“I think we could have got the ball inside if we would have tried to reverse the ball once in our offense instead of trying to force it inside,” Hopper said. “We just decided to force it in there, or take a quick shot with 25 seconds left on the shot clock, or just turn the ball over.”
West Burlington (4-10, 3-8) led by as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter before the Crusaders rallied, getting to within three points late.
“But we still weren’t running our offense,” Hopper said. “We got some turnovers, got some easy baskets, but we still gave up the ball at times.”
Teagan Snaadt led Holy Trinity with 17 points. Adalyn Kruse had six points.
“Teagan’s battling through a hand injury, Adalyn hurt her foot tonight,” Hopper said. “Not excuses, but we are kind of banged up right now.”
Holy Trinity plays at Fort Madison on Saturday.
“We’ve got that game, and we’ve got just a couple of games next week, so maybe we can get a little healthier,” Hopper said. “But we have to start playing better. It doesn't get easier. Other teams see you play like this, and then they just get more confident when they see you on the schedule. We have to start playing better.”

Lady Crusaders, girls, HTC, Holy Trinity Catholic, West burlington, sports, girls, basketball, Southeast Iowa Superconference, Pen City Current,

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