The girls’ basketball team defeated the Assumption Rockets by a score of 51-14 on Tuesday Night at Assumption. Strong defense set the tone early, and the Crimsons never looked back after taking an early lead.
The Crimsons came out strong in the first quarter, getting shots from Tyonne Howard (#12, 11) and Tonysha Curry (#23, 12) to capture an early 8-2 run. The Crimsons scored the opening basket of the game and never relinquished the lead.
“We try to push the ball in transition and look for each other a lot,” said Howard.
The Crimsons did just that, forcing turnover after turnover that lead to points in most cases. Defense has been the central strategy for the Crimsons all season, and it came up big again tonight.
“We take a lot of pride in how hard we play on the defensive end, and try to make it difficult. We did that, and we held them to fourteen points tonight,” said Coach Jeff Sparks.
The Crimsons commanded a 14-4 lead into the second quarter and continued to build on their defensive toughness and their scoring total. Ball movement was key in helping Manual achieve a 32-6 lead into halftime. The stifling Crimson defense only allowed the Rockets to score 2 points in the second quarter.
The second half was much of the same story; suffocating defense and capitalizing off of turnovers. Tyonne Howard got the offense rolling with a pair of three point shots, one from each side of the court. Tonysha Curry lead the all-around effort with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Looking ahead in the season, the Crimsons hope to continue the win streak as they travel to Lexington Catholic High School next Tuesday to take on Russell County High School.
“If we keep the energy up like we did today, I think we’ll be successful all the way up until February when the big tournament comes,” Coach Sparks said. “We’re just trying to learn from every experience. Right now we need to make sure we’re learning from wins and what’s going well along with what we need to improve.”
Over the Winter break the Crimsons play Russell County in Lexington on December 20. They then take on Eastern High School on January 3 at Eastern at 6 PM.
