Griffin Christian High School's Mary Kate Blalock (33) awaits at the free throw line after being fouled during a home game Jan, 31 against LaGrange Academy. In the background is teammate Lily Hammond (23)
The season ends for Griffin Christian, which lost its 13th straight game and fell to 7-19 overall.
GC battled Flint in the first half, trailing 15-8 at the end of the first quarter and 31-23 at the half. Lady Crusaders head coach David Hammond was pleased after the first half of the region tourney game.
“We really competed well in the first half. In fact, we cut the lead to four points early in the second quarter and only trailed by eight at halftime,” Hammond said. “We just had a rough second half.”
The Lady Crusaders were outscored 27-6 in the third quarter to trail 58-29 heading into the fourth quarter and that sealed the game for the Lady Wildcats, who coasted the rest of the way for the win, and they now advance in the tournament.
Senior Brittany Foster scored 16 points and snagged 13 rebounds in her last high school basketball game and Katy Hammond added seven points and six rebounds for the Lady Crusaders. GC was severely challenged without senior point guard Leyah Brown, who injured her foot several weeks ago and wasn’t able to play down the stretch. Without Brown, a four-year varsity starter who was able to create her shot and was the team’s best ball-handler, the pressure to run the team fell on freshman Katy Hammond, who did her best as the team’s primary point guard.
Griffin Christian may have ended the 2012-13 season on a down note, but Hammond sees a great future for a team that loses five seniors (only two were starters) but returns a young nucleus. The Lady Crusaders won the most games in a season (seven) in several years and the younger players got some extensive playing time this year.
“We won five more games this year than we did last year and hopefully our record will be even better next year. The young players on the team received good experience on the court this year and that should help for next season,” said Hammond. “It will hurt losing Brittany and Leyah, but I think our younger players will step up next year.”
Besides Foster and Brown, the other seniors who will be lost are reserves Hannah Branham, Allison Miller and Callie Wilson.
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