The Christendom College Crusaders owned the afternoon on Saturday in Clifton Forge as the men’s and women’s basketball team were victorious over the Mountain Gateway Roadrunners in two close finishes.
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To kick the afternoon off, the Lady Crusaders (8-2) nearly blew a 20-point fourth quarter lead as they held on to a 65-58 victory over the Lady Roadrunners (3-9).
After playing dominant basketball for nearly three quarters, the Crusaders who led by 20 points at halftime, found themselves up 24 points heading into the games final period.
With just minutes remaining, the Lady Roadrunners had slowly found themselves down just 10 points.
After back to back turnovers, Covington native, Cristi Persinger drained an open three-pointer that brought the Lady Roadrunners all the way back and within just four points at 61-57 with a little over one minute remaining.
However, as good as a comeback it was by the Lady Roadrunners, they needed just one more stop to close the gap even further, but Bridget McCaughey would knock down a jump shot after running out quality time off the game clock to put the Lady Crusaders up six points with 30 seconds remaining.
Moments later, Miranda Keller would seal the game by knocking down a pair of free throws that gave the Lady Crusaders a seven point lead.
Catherine Thomas led the Lady Crusaders to victory with a double-double. Thomas led all scorers with 28 points and all rebounders with 15 boards brought down. Regina Bonvissuto was the only other Lady Crusader to score double figures as she had 10.
The Lady Roadrunners were led by Persinger who scored a team-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, and a team-high five steals. Meanwhile, Brooke Davis had a double-double performance with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Julie Agee also had 14 points.
The loss was the teams second in their last three games.
The Lady Roadrunners will look to bounce back tomorrow evening as they are on the road visiting Patrick Henry Christian College.
Team 1 2 3 4 Ttl
CC 15 20 21 9 65
MGCC 8 7 17 26 58
Lady Crusaders Box Score
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
McCaughey 6 7 1 2
Cousino 8 2 4 3
Speier 4 3 1 0
Thomas 28 15 5 3
Keller 9 9 0 0
Bonvissuto 10 6 2 1
Totals 65 49 13 9
Lady Roadrunners Box Score
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Persinger 20 6 4 5
Agee 14 7 3 1
Ferguson 6 9 0 0
Davis 14 10 2 2
Tacy 4 8 0 1
Totals 58 39 13 11
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The late afternoon game saw another great game that ended at the closing seconds as the men’s Roadrunners (4-12) fell to the Crusaders (5-5) 72-71.
After a tightly contested game throughout, the game came down to the wire.
Trailing by one points, Zion Shirley missed a layup in which he had to alter his shot in which he had to double pump as he went up the air for the layup due to being tightly contested.
With under a minute remaining and the Crusaders catching a break, the team would run clock down.
As the shot clock ticked down, Bobby Vander Woude’s fall-away jumper would hit the front of the hoop which led to a Roadrunners 3-2 fast break and a Jake Korbakes layup to give the team a 71-70 lead with 22 seconds left.
Just as momentum was on the Roadrunners side, the Crusaders took nine seconds off the game clock to retake the lead as Vander Woude drove to the hoop following a timeout and dropped in a basket from four feet away to give the Crusaders once again a one point lead at 72-71.
With a chance to win the game, Korbakes received a pass with seconds left, got past one defender and got up a clean, but slightly rushed three-pointer at the buzzer that was just off the mark.
The loss not only was the teams first in 2023, but it also ended their four-game winning streak.
The Crusaders were led to victory by Bobby and John Paul Vander Woude who combined for 32 points. B. Vander Woude and Andrew Heisler had 18 points, while J.P. Vander Woude provided 14 points.
The Roadrunners were led by Jaquan Dembo who was one of four in double figures as he scored a team-high 18 points. Meanwhile, Donovan Amason scored 16, while Tyriq Brown added 15, and Korbakes scored 12.
The Roadrunners will look to get back to their winning ways on Friday when the team heads on the road to take on Sandhills Community College who are one of the top ranked programs in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III.
Team 1 2 Ttl
CC 40 32 72
MGCC 34 37 71
Crusaders Box Score
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
B. Van-Woude 18 5 1 2
Heisler 18 5 1 3
J.P. Van-Woude 14 3 0 3
Dotson 8 6 1 1
Kennedy 9 11 1 0
Pabst 0 1 0 0
Curran 0 0 0 0
Ethridge 5 4 2 0
Smith 0 1 0 0
Townsend 0 0 0 0
Total 72 36 6 0
Roadrunners Box Score
Player Pts Reb Ast Stl
Korbakes 12 2 1 2
Bowens 5 10 2 0
Dembo 18 4 1 3
Brown 15 4 6 0
Amason 16 5 3 3
Shirley 5 0 0 0
Fleming 0 1 0 0
Williams 0 2 0 0
Total 71 28 13 8
