Cardinal girls take Doane tourney title
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- Published on 31 December 2011
- Written by Andy McCallister
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Putting together wins over Elkhorn High and Duchesne Academy, the Crete High girls’ basketball team secured the championship trophy of the Doane Holiday Tournament last week at the Haddix Center.
Improving their season mark to 5-3, the Cardinals pulled away for a 35-27 win over the Antlers Thursday and counted on late-game heroics again on Friday on the way to a 39-32 win over Duchesne.
Crete returns to action Thursday with a road game against 4-5 Lincoln Christian at 6 p.m. before hosting Class C-1 preseason third-ranked Wahoo (8-2) Saturday at 2:30.
The Cards will host Plattsmouth Jan. 10 at 6.
Crete 35, Elkhorn 27
Fourth-quarter three-pointers by Tristan Shaw and Alex Edwards ignited a late rally that boosted the Cardinals past the Antlers Thursday.
Crete had turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions to begin the fourth quarter and was trailing 23-22 when Shaw found the range at the four-minute mark to put the Cards on top to stay.
As Elkhorn suffered through a five-plus minute scoring drought, Edwards hit her three and Shaw took an assist from Kaitlin Bradley, hitting a layup to give Crete a 30-23 lead with 1:34 to play.
The Cardinals got free throws from Kaitlin Paulsen, Edwards and Morgan Hill in the final seconds to seal the win.
Crete 39, Duchesne 32
Hill and Bradley combined to score seven points in the final 2:14 of Friday’s title game to help the Cardinals pull away in what had been a hard-fought struggle all through the second half.
Crete held the Cardinals to two points in the final 4:19 of the game, forcing turnovers on six of their last nine possessions.
Hill, who had been on the bench with four fouls since the early seconds of the third quarter, returned to score a pair of buckets that followed offensive rebounds, giving Crete a 34-32 lead with a minute left.
Bradley followed that with a steal and a free throw. Following two Edwards free throws with 21 seconds to go, Bradley scored on a breakaway layup at the buzzer for the final margin.
For more on Crete's Doane tourney wins, see the Jan. 4 print or E-edition of The Crete News.