Heroic Crossroads girls basketball effort falls short - The Pioneer

CROSSROADS – It was an heroic effort for the Crossroads Five on Thursday night, but the Cougars just fell short to Manistee Catholic Central 63-56 in West Michigan D League girls basketball action.

CCA was coming off a 43-29 win on Wednesday after 19 days off for quarantine issues. Coach Elayna Cheney had six players but then only five were able to play for the entire 32 minutes. Amelia Thompson scored 28 points. She had nine in the third and 12 in the fourth.

Jackie Cole had 11 points, Kaitlin Buys nine points and Alexis Carr eight points. Selah Meeuwes was the fifth CCA player.

“We played them previously and it was like night and day,” Cheney said, referring to a 46-22 MCC win in December. “Our girls keep improving. We have six girls on the team and to only end up with five, I thought the girls did amazing.”

The visitors led 19-7 after the first quarter and 35-17 at halftime.

When the Sabers threatened to pull away in the fourth the Cougars kept responding. Thompson’s triple cut the MCC lead to 54-43. Cole’s triple cut it to 56-46 and MCC opened a 60-46 lead. But Cole drove for another basket. Thompson and Alexis Carr netted a pair of triples to keep CCA close until the end.

“Toward the end, Katie Buys had four fouls,” Cheney said. “But they all played smart basketball.”

Cheney is expecting to have more players available in upcoming games.

“Because of COVID, we’re missing a couple,” Cheney said. “Going forward, we should keep improving. As long as we can play games, I’m looking forward to it. They come to practice and work hard. I know we should come out with more wins.”

MCC is 4-0 in the league and 4-1 overall. Crossroads is both 1-5 overall and 1-5 in the league.

Crossroads plays at Marion on Monday.

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