Kruse's late bucket lifts Crusaders

FORT MADISON – Holy Trinity’s girls looked a little lethargic in holding on for their fifth win of the year. But they found what they needed, when they needed it to knock off West Burlington 36-33 Friday night at West Burlington.
“It’s an important win. Last season this team got used to just blowing people out. But this year teams are going to hang around with us. That’s going to happen and even more in the second half. They were coming at us strong and we had to find a way to win, so you get to take that positive with us," HTC Head Coach Shawn Hopper said.
The Falcons’ pesky 1-3-1 defense kept Holy Trinity fighting the whole night, but a late bucket by sophomore Adalyn Kruse in the lane gave the Crusaders the 36 points they needed with less than 10 seconds left to win the game.
The Falcons’ Lyndsey Kelley’s heave at the end didn’t get close and HTC held its share of the SEI Superconference South lead with Mediapolis at 5-0, 3-0.
West Burlington 2-4 (1-3) stayed with Holy Trinity the entire four quarters less a 12-0 run in the second quarter which really came down to the difference in the game.
With West Burlington holding a slim 13-12 lead with 6:03 left in the first half following a couple free throws from Kaylee Webb, both teams went scoreless for the next two minutes. Kruse then scored inside at 4:20 for a 14-13 lead. HTC would get a stop in the next possession and then Anna Bendlage would score off an inbound under the Crusader basket on a nice give-and-go play inside the lane. Teagan Snaadt scored off an assist from Kruse in the next sequence. Junior Isabelle Behne would get in on the action with a bucket after another defensive stop.
West Burlington would commit a turnover off the HTC press and Kruse would get fouled. She would miss both freebies, but Snaadt snagged the rebound and hit a 10-foot turnaround for a 22-13 HTC lead. West Burlington would continue to struggle in their halfcourt and let the run continue without a timeout. Olivia Bendlage would capitalize with a bucket from the right side off a Snaadt interior pass before Kelley would hit a 3-ball to break the run. Snaadt would score again off a steal for a 26-16 halftime lead for the Crusaders.

The 3^rd quarter showed some fatigue for the Lady Crusaders as they only converted one field goal, a shot inside by Bendlage, while the Falcons wiped out their 10-point deficit to close the gap to 28-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
West Burlington would take a 29-28 lead on another Kelley 3-pointer from the right wing. Holy Trinity would then enter a slump missing their next seven field goal attempts, four off offensive rebounds with five minutes left. HTC wouldn’t convert another field goal until Kruse’s bucket with 10 seconds left. They did get four free throws out of the next eight while West Burlington faded under all the intense pressure and missed their next 10 shots from the field as well.
HTC head coach Shawn Hopper said the Crusaders didn’t get a lot of time to prepare for West Burlington’s different defensive set.
“We haven’t played against one before. We did a little prep for it. We just didn’t have a lot of prep time this week and we forced too much. But the positive is we found a way at the end to get it done,” he said.
Kruse led the Crusaders with 10 points, eight in the first half. Snaadt had nine and Bendlage had six.
The Crusaders shot just 33% from the field and only 53% from the free throw line. He said the pressure from the Falcons took a toll on the girls.
“We shoot an awful lot of free throws every night, and we’re going to shoot an awful lot more,” Hopper said.
Saturday’s game with Winfield-Mt. Union was postponed due to weather. The Crusader will host Van Buren (4-1, 2-1) on Tuesday night