WASHINGTON TWP. | After seeing its 15-point lead trimmed to three midway through the fourth quarter, Covenant Christian found its rally relief.
The Knights outscored Washington Township 17-6 over the final four minutes of a 57-43 win in the first round of Class A sectional play Tuesday. Covenant Christian will play Kouts on Friday as Morgan Township, 73-19 winners over Gary 21st Century, will play LaCrosse.
"We just needed to take control of the game again and slow it down," Covenant Christian coach Nick DeVries said. "They did a good job of pressuring us. We were flustered and committed too many turnovers."
After a basket by Washington Township's Sammie Higgins cut Covenant Christian's lead to 40-37, the Knights reeled off seven straight points to push the lead back to 10. Amy Hamstra, who finished with a game-high 19 points, had a basket and two free throws in the spurt.
The Knights (13-8) made their final six free throws of the game to close it out. Covenant Christian was 14-of-21 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and finished 23-of-35 for the game.
Rachel Schurman had a double-double for the Knights with 13 points and 18 rebounds. Katy Long also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Covenant Christian finished with a 50-35 edge in rebounds. The Knights were hampered by 25 turnovers.
Kacie Corley led the Senators (7-13) with 14 points. Washington Twp. finished 15-of-61 from the field and was just 4-of-24 on three-pointers.
In the early game, the Cherokees took a 26-4 lead over 21st Century after the first quarter.
Courtney Osby, who paced Morgan Twp. (11-10) with 13 points, scored 11 in the first quarter.
"We came out very aggressive," Morgan Township coach Kevin Krieger said. "We preached coming out quickly against this team, and the whole first group did a good job of that."
Ashley Kuder and Trina Coleman each scored nine points for Morgan Township,
Lauren Bobinski and Alison Goetz each added eight points for the Cherokees, who had eight players score at least six points.
Morgan Township had a 49-28 rebounding edge and also forced 27 Cougar turnovers.
Indea Graham led the Cougars (3-16) with a game-high 15 points.
Please Wait…