Lady Crusaders get win in home opener

SHAKING OFF THE NERVES

They were a little more ready to go. And I felt like our girls were a little tense. They shared with me that they were a little nervous. It's understandable, but at the end of the day, they did what they needed to do.”

Shawn Hopper, HTC girls head coach

FORT MADISON - Shawn Hopper’s first game as Holy Trinity’s girls basketball coach was a win.

Maybe it wasn’t a work of art, but such is life when there’s a new coach, players in new roles or expanded roles, and a transition from last season.

“I’ve always said I’ll take an ugly win over a loss any day,” Hopper said with a smile after the Crusaders’ 43-37 victory over WACO on Monday night at Shottenkirk Gym.

Holy Trinity led for almost the entire game — a 9-0 first-half scoring run in which WACO was held without a point for 7 ½ minutes gave the Crusaders early control, and then a 7-0 run over the final 2:06 of the third quarter helped them pull away again.

“It was about what I expected,” Hopper said. “You know, we talked about it in the locker room — you have so much to go over in three weeks of practice to be ready. You try to throw in something for a zone defense if you see it, something for a man-to-man defense if you see it. We don’t have all the tricks up our sleeve yet, so we know we’ve got to get back to work.”

“I think this game was a good starting point,” said senior Anna Bendlage, who scored seven points. “We kind of let everyone get to know their roles, what their jobs are for this team, and it was a good way to start the season.”

There were times the Crusaders were tentative on offense — they got hit with shot-clock violations early in the first quarter and again to start the third quarter.

“Some of these kids maybe played six or seven JV games last year, and that was their first experience with the shot clock,” Hopper said. “And so they weren’t quite ready for it, but that’s on me. We are going to work more on shot-clock possessions in practice.”

Hopper said WACO (1-1) had a little bit of advantage, having played last Tuesday against Wapello.

“You could see, even in warmups, that they were more loose than we were,” Hopper said. “They were a little more ready to go. And I felt like our girls were a little tense. They shared with me that they were a little nervous. It's understandable, but at the end of the day, they did what they needed to do. I felt like they played pretty good defensively and I thought we did some good things offensively.” 

“I think there definitely were a lot of good things,” Bendlage said. “There's a couple things we can work on, but that's how it's going to be in the beginning of the season.”

Teagan Snaadt led the Crusaders with 11 points. Adalyn Kruse had 10. Ellie Hellman had six points, Elizabeth Griffin had five points and Olivia Bendlage had four in her first varsity game.

“We got some good scoring from different people,” Hopper said.

The Crusaders play again on Tuesday when they host Central Lee.

“It’s a little bit exhausting to play three games in a week (the Crusaders play host to Danville on Friday), but it’s good for us to get ready for the rest of the season,” Anna Bendlage said.

“It’ll be tough, but these girls are tough,” Hopper said.