bluesooner17
Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2010
- Messages
- 863
- Reaction score
- 3
CHA captures second straight title
Trailing by seven points at the half, Christian Heritage Academy found itself in an unfamiliar situation.
Undefeated entering the Saturday Class 2A girls title clash with Cashion, CHA had not trailed at halftime at any point this year.
Facing her team in the locker room, coach Lisa LittleJim asked one simple question.
“I asked them, ‘What are you going to do about it?’” LittleJim said.
They formed a plan. LittleJim wanted to scrap her half court offense and opted for more of a slash and kick attack.
She also decided to shift into more man-to-man defense to see if the Crusaders could create turnovers.
“I just wanted to turn them loose,” LittleJim said. “I wanted them to get back to what us got here in the first place.”
The plan worked.
CHA turned up the defensive pressure, recording six second half steals and forcing Cashion into eight turnovers while attacking the rim constantly on offense.
Sophomore Lexie Davis was the catalyst for CHA in the second half. She scored 14 of her 20 points after the break and assisted on three baskets to help the Crusaders win their second-straight championship as they beat Cashion, 57-46.
“We really just wanted to come out and play our kind of basketball,” Davis said. “I love to slash, and today it worked really well.”
The second half opened with CHA sophomore Myka Parrish making back-to-back 3-pointers. But each basket was met by a Cashion response on the other end. The Wildcats were led by senior Sydney Manning, who finished with 13 points, but was held to only two points in the second half.
Trailing 35-29 midway through the third quarter, CHA went on an 18-4 run to break the game open.
When junior Oliva Curtis hit two free throws with less than 15 seconds remaining in the game to put CHA up by 11, the celebration began.
“We know halftime means it’s 0-0,” Curtis said. “So it’s a great time to start fresh and we knew we could come out and hit them in the face.”
Last year, CHA took Class 2A by storm when it entered the tournament unheralded and unranked but marched its way to the title.
This year, the target was on it from the beginning and the narrative of an undefeated season only magnified that target.
LittleJim said that was never a discussion in the locker room for her team.
“These were never our goals,” LittleJim said. “Every day was a blue-collar day. We just knew we needed to come to work and get better together.”
Trailing by seven points at the half, Christian Heritage Academy found itself in an unfamiliar situation.
Undefeated entering the Saturday Class 2A girls title clash with Cashion, CHA had not trailed at halftime at any point this year.
Facing her team in the locker room, coach Lisa LittleJim asked one simple question.
“I asked them, ‘What are you going to do about it?’” LittleJim said.
They formed a plan. LittleJim wanted to scrap her half court offense and opted for more of a slash and kick attack.
She also decided to shift into more man-to-man defense to see if the Crusaders could create turnovers.
“I just wanted to turn them loose,” LittleJim said. “I wanted them to get back to what us got here in the first place.”
The plan worked.
CHA turned up the defensive pressure, recording six second half steals and forcing Cashion into eight turnovers while attacking the rim constantly on offense.
Sophomore Lexie Davis was the catalyst for CHA in the second half. She scored 14 of her 20 points after the break and assisted on three baskets to help the Crusaders win their second-straight championship as they beat Cashion, 57-46.
“We really just wanted to come out and play our kind of basketball,” Davis said. “I love to slash, and today it worked really well.”
The second half opened with CHA sophomore Myka Parrish making back-to-back 3-pointers. But each basket was met by a Cashion response on the other end. The Wildcats were led by senior Sydney Manning, who finished with 13 points, but was held to only two points in the second half.
Trailing 35-29 midway through the third quarter, CHA went on an 18-4 run to break the game open.
When junior Oliva Curtis hit two free throws with less than 15 seconds remaining in the game to put CHA up by 11, the celebration began.
“We know halftime means it’s 0-0,” Curtis said. “So it’s a great time to start fresh and we knew we could come out and hit them in the face.”
Last year, CHA took Class 2A by storm when it entered the tournament unheralded and unranked but marched its way to the title.
This year, the target was on it from the beginning and the narrative of an undefeated season only magnified that target.
LittleJim said that was never a discussion in the locker room for her team.
“These were never our goals,” LittleJim said. “Every day was a blue-collar day. We just knew we needed to come to work and get better together.”
