HTC girls win crosstown affair

Fort Madison's Camille Kruse slides a bounce pass into the lane in the first quarter. Kruse finished with 19 points to lead the Hounds in the loss.

Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Hitting the boards

I’ve always been taught that rebounding is my job, and I know when I step foot in the game, I don’t care about points,” Box said. “I want rebounds”

Kayla Box, HTC forward

FORT MADISON - There was balance to Holy Trinity’s offense in Saturday’s 49-36 girls basketball win over city rival Fort Madison at Shottenkirk Gymnasium.
It’s something Crusaders coach Tony Johnson like to see.
“We go in phases, where one person does a lot of stuff and that’s great,” Johnson said. “But if we can get team balance like we had tonight, it’s hard to guard us, because we’ve got four or five girls who can score the ball.”
Six Crusaders scored, led by Teagan Snaadt’s 14 points and Mary Kate Bendlage’s 13.
“It’s very important, because it just shows how much our team can work together and how much we’ve improved in the last couple of weeks,” said forward Kayla Box, who had nine points.
Holy Trinity (7-6) had a 15-0 run that started in the final 13 seconds of the first quarter and lasted six minutes into the second. Mary Hellige started the run with a 3-pointer, and Snaadt and Box closed it with five points each.
“We emphasized before the game talking, keeping the ball moving, not stalling it,” Johnson said. “You watch any kind of basketball, if the ball stalls and there’s a lot of dribbling, nothing good usually happens from it.”
“We started out in a 2-3 zone because we were down a couple of players and we were worried about foul trouble,” Fort Madison assistant coach Landon Bentley said. “So we tried to go into a zone, they started making shots, and we had to get out of it.”
The Crusaders were effective inside with scoring and rebounding, with Box being one of the keys.
“Kayla has been amazing all year,” Johnson said. “Kayla is one of those players that does not care if she scores. It’s whatever it takes for the team to win. She’ll get you 20 rebounds a night and that’s her job and she loves it.”
“I’ve always been taught that rebounding is my job, and I know when I step foot in the game, I don’t care about points,” Box said. “I want rebounds.”
Fort Madison (9-4) is still looking for personnel answers after the season-ending injury to guard Irelynd Sargent.
“We’re trying to get comfortable with some new things,” Bentley said.  “But the shots weren’t falling.”
Fort Madison got 19 points from Camille Kruse, 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Ajia Jenkins added nine.