By RICH TORRES
WESTFIELD – Westfield coach Ginny Smith won’t say her girls basketball team is at peak level just yet, but for three quarters at home against Class 3A Bishop Chatard on Wednesday night, the 4A Shamrocks were razor sharp.
Freshman Alyssa Crockett was steady with 11 points and eight rebounds while junior Ava Henson had 14 points behind junior Ashtin DeCraene’s game-high 16.
The Shamrocks’ triple threat and up-tempo style overwhelmed the visiting Trojans (9-6) early and throughout en route to Westfield’s (13-4) fifth straight win, 51-32.
Westfield built a 12-point lead by halftime with Bishop Chatard struggling against the press, and DeCraene made it a 27-point margin with a buzzer-beating 3 to ignite the Shamrocks’ bench.
Crockett launched an inbound pass from full court with less than 3 seconds remaining in the third quarter, connecting with DeCraene in stride. The 5-foot-6 guard collected the reception, shook her defender, set, and fired just before the clock expired.
“It was fun. I just kind of threw it up,” DeCraene said with a laugh. “Alyssa made a great pass to me, and I threw it up. I started walking away because I didn’t think it was in, but then I turned and it went in. It was fun. Everyone went crazy.”
DeCraene’s third 3-pointer in five tries put Westfield ahead 47-20 to cap a 20-point quarter, which the Shamrocks controlled by shooting 6 of 9 from the floor. Westfield converted 43 percent of its field goal attempts overall and forced 13 Trojans turnovers, including nine in the first half.
“Defensively, I thought our effort was really good. Ultimately, that’s what won us that basketball game,” Smith said. “I thought we were really solid with our matchups.”
Bishop Chatard had one double-digit scorer led by Zakia Rasheed’s 12-point effort. The Trojans shot 23 percent from the field.
The Trojans were 11 of 16 from the free-throw line. They went 4 of 7 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and outscored the Shamrocks 12-4 in the final eight minutes, but it wasn’t enough despite a late 10-2 run.
“We did a nice job of keeping them off the glass, no second chances,” Smith said. “I felt we struggled from the free-throw line early. We struggled to finish in the paint early. I don’t know how many bunnies we missed, but collectively we still found a way to get it done on the defensive end because when we struggled offensively, we were still able to get stops.”
The Westfield defense poured it on in the first half and turned a 2-0 deficit in the first quarter into a 13-0 run and later a 16-11 lead. The Trojans countered with a 9-2 swing and pulled within 16-13 in the second quarter until Westfield ran away with an 11-0 rally.
DeCraene and Henson both had eight points by halftime. Henson buried her first three shot attempts and finished 4 of 5 shooting. She was 6-for-7 from the foul line with two assists and three steals. DeCraene had three assists and two steals.
Crockett posted a team-high four assists and hauled in six offensive rebounds. Sophomore Gigi Eldredge had nine boards (seven off the defensive glass) to pair with two points and a block.
“We’ve been struggling a bit in practice lately, but coming into this game tonight we played together and encouraged each other a lot,” DeCraene said. “Coming out and playing with confidence helped us win.”
A decisive 14-3 run in the third quarter propelled the Shamrocks to a 41-16 lead before DeCraene supplied Westfield with its largest lead.
“We did want to go long and catch the basketball. You just never know if it’s going to go in our not,” Smith said. “Alyssa threw a beautiful pass that couldn’t have been a better pass. And Ashtin just got lucky and made it.”
The Shamrocks hope their luck continues with two games in four days beginning on Saturday at 3A Hamilton Heights at 1:30 p.m. They travel to 4A Greenwood on Tuesday before facing Hoosier Crossroads Conference foe 4A No. 2 Hamilton Southeastern on the road Jan. 11.
“Everybody’s goal is to peak at the right time, and you’re shooting for January to kind of start getting yourself ready for tournament time. I think we’re starting to do some things better,” Smith said. “All in all things are starting to come together, but we have some big tests coming up. We’ll see if we’re really gelling when we play those teams.”
Westfield 51, Bishop Chatard 32
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Jade Shipley 2-9 0-0 4 2
Ashtin DeCraene 6-9 1-3 16 0
Ava Henson 4-5 6-7 14 1
Alyssa Crockett 3-9 4-6 11 1
Gigi Eldredge 1-4 0-4 2 3
Olivia Robey 0-0 0-0 0 2
Karley Wininger 0-0 0-0 0 1
Chesney Tebbe 0-0 0-0 0 0
Regan Dimond 0-1 0-0 0 2
Zoe Pentecost 1-1 0-0 2 1
Jessica Castor 1-2 0-0 2 0
Madi Kerrigan 0-2 0-0 0 0
Ashley Black 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-42 11-20 51 13
Score by Quarters
Bishop Chatard 11 2 7 12 – 32
Westfield 16 11 20 4 – 51
Westfield 3-point shooting (4-8) Crockett 1-1, DeCraene 3-5.
Westfield rebounds (35) Eldredge 9, Crockett 8, Shipley 3, DeCraene 3, Castor 3, Pentecost 2, Robey 1, Dimond 1, team 4.