Tiger girls lead early, fall late

NEW LONDON - The New London girls put quite the scare into Holy Trinity early in a SEISC South Division matchup on Tuesday night. The Tigers led the heavily-favored Crusaders by a point at halftime and threatened to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the year, but the Crusaders grabbed the lead in the third quarter and poured it on in the fourth to run away with the game 63-34.

HTC jumped out to an early lead and held a 16-9 advantage after the first quarter. Layney Loyd scored four early points to lead the Tigers.

The Crusaders faced some adversity midway through the first quarter when star player Emily Box picked up her second foul. Box sat out for the majority of the second half, and New London took full advantage inside.

'Obviously it helped that she got two fouls,” New London coach Chad Wahls said after the game. 'He pulled her out with the two fouls maybe only four minutes into the first quarter. We recognized that and knew we had to attack down low and get some points in the paint.”

Indeed, most of the Tigers' first-half points came in the paint. Loyd and Alisha Boles each scored six points int he first half, and a solid defensive effort from New London in the second quarter made the game interesting at halftime. The Tigers outscored the Crusaders 15-7 in the second quarter and led 24-23 at halftime.

'Obviously you don't just overlook it,” Wahls said about the halftime lead. 'You've got to come in saying, ‘We're going to do it but we have to do it a little bit better.' I said ‘They're going to press us harder and be a little more physical with us,' and you can't emulate that sometimes and prepare people.”

Box came back in the game in the third quarter and HTC was able to bother New London with aggressive pressure defense. That led to just a five-point Tiger third quarter and HTC grabbed a 37-29 lead after three quarters.

New London couldn't find their offense in the fourth quarter either, and HTC continued to force turnovers with a press, right up to the last minute. The Crusaders outscored the Tigers 16-5 in the fourth quarter to hand New London its third-straight loss.

Boles finished the game with 10 points to lead the Tigers. Kara Krieger had eight points and two assists. Loyd finished the night with six points and nine rebounds. Ashlyn McSorley and Marah Hartrick had five points apiece, and Hartrick finished the night with three steals.

New London fell to 2-11 with the loss. The Tigers have a full week to prepare for their next game. The Tigers will be at Notre Dame on Tuesday, Jan. 22.