Crossroads League Championships Central
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – The Taylor women's basketball season came to a close on Tuesday evening, when the seventh-seeded Trojans lost to the three-seed, RV Grace, by a final score of 61-46 in the Crossroads League Tournament Quarterfinals.
Offensive woes plagued Taylor for its second matchup in a row against Grace. On February 4, the Trojans scored a season-low 37 points on 12-51 shooting against the Lancers, and on Tuesday the Trojans shot just 16-65 from the floor en route to a 47-point effort.
Even so, Taylor hung tight with its quarterfinal host, trailing the Lancers by just two at the half and by four points heading into the fourth quarter. The final frame proved burdensome for the Trojans, however, especially the final four minutes of the game in which Grace unleashed an 11-1 run to lock its spot in the Crossroads League Tournament semifinals.
Taylor's best period of play came in the second quarter, as the Trojans matched Grace with 17 points apiece. Along the way, Taylor shot 7-19 from the floor, serving as the lone quarter in which Taylor shot better than 25.0 percent.
Junior forward, Taylor Westgate, played an especially dynamic role in that second quarter, scoring or assisting on 15 of TU's 17 total points. At the half, Westgate totaled 12 points and five rebounds to the Trojans, though she only managed to scratch two more points into the scorebook by game's end.
Fellow junior, Ava Henson, came on strong for the Purple-and-Gray in the second half, finishing the night with 10 points, including a pair of three-point baskets. Henson was the lone Trojan to hit multiple threes, however, as Taylor suffered from 3-22 shooting from deep.
Unfortunately, the free-throw line was not a helpful companion for the Trojans either, as the Lancers made 12 more trips to the charity stripe than Taylor, supporting a 23-to-11-point edge over the Trojans in the freebie column.
By game's end, the Trojans had tallied a season-high 26 total fouls with four different players reaching at least four personal fouls. As such, even though the Trojan defense held the Lancers to 31.5-percent shooting from the floor, capitalizing at the free-throw line carried Grace to victory.
The Taylor women's basketball team finished the season with 15 wins for the second season in a row, while losing in the quarterfinal round of the Crossroads League Tournament for the first time since the 2016-2017 season.
