The Fayette Christian School Lady Crusaders, who were rolling along with a 5-2 record, saw the last week of their regular season take a terrible turn on injuries and yet survived a losing streak to stay above .500.
First it was senior Jenna Sams who suffered an injury that ended her season. After being on crutches for a short time, Sams is going around now in a walking boot.
Then the team’s leading scorer, Taylor Brown, suffered a wrist injury that also end her season. Taylor did have 12 points to lead the team to a 30-23 win on Feb. 8 at Wayside.
Katelynn Crichton added seven points followed by Emily Parker with five points, McKenna Granger with four and Letisha Knepp scored two.
The next day the team, now down two players, participated in a tournament at Hillsboro Christian.
The first contest saw Hillsboro win by a 29-18 score.
The local Crusaders were led by Letisha Knepp with a career high eight points. Emily Barker had five, Grace Sheeter added three points and McKenna Granger scored two.
The next game in the tournament saw Emily Barker score 15 points but it wasn’t enough as the ladies lost to Adams County Christian, 29-25. McKenna Granger and Katelynn Crichton scored four points each.
On Feb. 11, the Crusaders played their fourth game in as many days, going to East Dayton. There the losing streak went to three games in a row with a 44-18 setback.
Emily Barker again led the team with nine points. Letisha Knepp put in three points and with two points each were McKenna Granger, Macie Riley and Grace Sheeter.
The final two regular season games saw the Lady Crusaders playing at home and winning on last minute shots.
On Feb. 12 they played Hillsboro for the second time in four days, winning a 24-20 contest.
Macie Riley, the only healthy senior left on the roster, had a career high eight points. Emily Barker added six, McKenna Granger scored four and with two points each were Letisha Knepp, Katelynn Crichton and Grace Sheeter.
Then on Feb. 15, Emily Barker led the team with 12 points in an exciting 27-26 win over Bethel Baptist.
McKenna Granger hit the game-winning shot with under 15 seconds left then blocked a Hillsboro shot that could have given the visitors a win.
Granger finished with six points. Grace Sheeter had five points and Letisha Knepp had 4.
The Lady Crusaders are now 7-5 and are the No. 3 seed in the upcoming BCSO (Buckeye Christian School Organization) State Final Four.
They will play this Friday at 3 p.m. against Dayton Temple at the Crusaders gym.
If they win they would play for the state title on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of Bucyrus Wayside/Mentor.
